Kasaix: Hello Doujin Army! I’m here with another great artist, Awasof. I’ve been following her work for a while and decided to reach out to her for an interview. I really enjoy her work. She has a unique art style, that leans more towards a western style as opposed to anime or manga style, and she does it so well. I know I talk about shading a fair bit, but it’s important in art to bring your characters to life, and it’s something she has aced.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Thanks for taking the time to hang out. How’s it going, Awasof?
Awasof: Thank you for having me! It's such an honor to be here giving my first ever interview. I'm never one to complain! Been a little busy lately, but it keeps me out of trouble and focussed on my passion for drawing.
Kasaix: That passion is clear in your work. It's amazing. Let’s start at the top, could you tell me how you first got into art?
Awasof: I started off drawing my favorite Dragon Ball Z characters! As I'm the only artist in my family, I didn't have many outside influences growing up. But I loved trying to draw Goku as fast as I could before the episode ended.
Kasaix: That is so wholesome, and I can imagine it. Did you go to an art school, or are you all self taught?
Awasof: I've never had a chance to receive any formal art training, but I did study art history in highschool. I've found that YouTube can be a great teacher if you have the discipline to keep practicing.
Kasaix: I admire that level of dedication. I can procrastinate like no one else and it bothers me.
What are your favorite characters and themes to draw?
Awasof: Oh believe me, I'm no stranger to procrastination! It's my Kryptonite XD As for my favorite characters - I've always loved drawing Korra, ever since I started doing digital art. You might notice that nearly all the art that I created in the beginning were that of Korra in some form of bondage. I've moved away from the BDSM a little lately to broaden my skills, but it's still one of my favorite themes!
Kasaix: Korra in bondage, especially if there's yuri, is definitely to my tastes. It also helps that Korra was captured more than Aang. Korra is a frequent guest in your work too, and it looks great.
Looking through your old pictures, there's a change in style as seen with Korra. It used to be close to the show itself, now it's a bit more realistic. What brought on the change in style?
Awasof: I loved drawing it that style, but after a while it felt like I was getting too comfortable. All the colours are the same, as well as the shading method. Adopting a more realistic style was a much bigger challenge for me, which allowed me to learn a lot more and branch out to characters outside of the Legend of Korra... But Korra will still always be my bae!!!
Kasaix: She's definitely waifu material. I was never fond of the show, but she was always top waifu from Legend of Korra.
Where do you get the inspiration for your projects from?
Awasof: I think the love of drawing just really pushes me to learn as much as I can. There are also two phenomenal artists that I highly admire - OwlerArt and Cutesexyrobutts. Whenever I get a bit lazy, I just have a quick look at their profiles, as I’m always amazed by their quality and work ethic. It really gets me off my ASS!! Also, music really gets me going too ^^
Kasaix: Nice. Mood can indeed affect a project's final form. How long does it typically take you to finish a project?
Awasof: I'm not very efficient, so it usually takes me two days to finish a piece. Sometimes it's more if there's a lot of characters and a big background.
Kasaix: What do you feel is your best picture yet, and why?
Awasof: Well... At the moment, I feel really happy with the latest piece I did, Korra Hunting. It gave me a chance to really play around with some bright and lively colors, which I don't do too often, and I think it has a much more cinematic quality to it than some of my other pieces. I just had such a blast creating this piece, and I just can't get enough of Korra!!
Kasaix: I agree with that sentiment entirely.
Is there a project you'd really like to work on in the future?
Awasof: I try not to think ahead too much, but there's definitely a few bdsm pieces coming soon ^^
Kasaix: Oh, I like. What setup do you use to draw?
Awasof: I have a pretty small and basic setup. Just my laptop, headphones and a Genius EasyPen M406. It's not the greatest tablet in the world. I believe I bought it back in 2015 for around $40. But I just love the lil guy soooo much that I never even consider upgrading!!!
Kasaix: Haha nice!
Where does your username come from?
Awasof: It's a little silly actually... So my friend and I started a deviantart account many years ago where we planned on posting lots of sketches under my current username. AWASOF is actually an acronym for Art With A Side Of Fries. We never got around to using the account, but the username just stuck with me
Kasaix: Haha! I relate to that so much. Kasaix is a lame username I thought of for an old Kingdom Hearts RP forum. I just stuck with it because I'm bad at thinking of names.
Let’s wrap it up here for now. Do you have any final words to all your fans?
Awasof: My fans have been so incredibly supportive!! So I can't even begin to say how much I love and appreciate all of them. Thank you guys soooo much! I wouldn't be where I am without you! And thank you Kasaix so much for taking the time to interview little ol me ^^ I'm sorry if some of my answers were a bit boring or if I rambled a bit. Not really used to interviews
I’d like to thank Awasof again for taking the time to hang out. If you’d like to follow more of her work, check out the sites below:
http://www.hentai-foundry.com/user/awasof/profile
https://www.deviantart.com/awasof
https://www.patreon.com/awasof
