Interview with Ian Alba

RavenzCraft Arts Presents 

Ian "Black" Alba 

First I want to Thank and Welcome you to the RavenzCraft Arts Interview Project , is an inspiration to get to talk and know more about the artists and creators of today, this interview has been long awaited and im glad we finally get to talk and let the public get to know a bit more about you.

Ian has also been a supporter and cover artist for our facebook and instagram pages, as has become a personal friend of ours id also like to thank you for that!

1.So Ian, we understand you are an artist and illustrator for Deviant Art and many other collaborative projects, for those of us who dont already know, can you tell us a bit about what you do? where you are from? 

Well, I am of Colombian nationality .... I started as a simple illustrator in graphic matters in Germany in the year 2009 .... at this time I worked making designs for political organizations like die grünen and other things for associations of environmental protection in Denmark called The WDCS (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society) from there and in conjunction with the music that I listen to, I started doing things like PC wallpapers more than anything and I have also done some things for public events, music concerts and things like that ....

 2.Ok so lets go back, when was it that you first started creating artwork? I mean we all have art class in school but when was it that you really picked up drawing and illustrating as a hobby or art?

Well ... this comes from when I was very young, because my father had a graphic arts company and he was also a very good painter of oil and things like that ..... but at that time I decided to exploit my skills for the drawing, becoming a tattoo artist ..... but speaking of my passion for designing images, I owe this to a great grand graphic arts master named Adam Tsiolas .....His amazing works were what prompted me to delve a bit more into digital graphic design.

3.Did you have any specific artist or creators that inspired to start creating art yourself?

What are some of your personal favorite illustrators?

My greatest masters of illustration have been Alan Lee and John Howe (The Lord of the Rings) and Yaroslav Gerzhedovich .

And of course my all time inspiration , Master Adam Tsiolas.

4.How did you start getting recognized? How did you get involved with Deviant Art? did you simply start uploading art to the internet yourself?

The person responsible for this was someone who has supported me a lot in all this ... inside and outside the virtual field ... I got to know with some of my first jobs and from there I started the passion to design and design non-stop .....

Hekata Rusimova ..... This great woman gave a very important turn in my artistic life with her support and good contacts in the musical medium.

5.Do you have interest in traditional practices or spiritual followings? 

if so, does this help to inspire your ideas for artwork?

I think music inspires you the same way as your examples.. to create something with your own stamp or signature .....

Obviously you have to fill culturally with many themes, especially if you are a follower of an artist and its musical genre ....



6.What kind of equipment or programs do you use for creating digital art? can you share with us any favorite programs or software you have used to create with?

I'm an old school graphic designer .....

when computers did not exist and everything had to do it with a pencil and a sheet of paper .... Obviously life is responsible for making you move forward by force, but in terms of digital design I am very simple .....

I use the programs that everybody has on their computers ... the question is to know how to use them well .....

Things like the corel and the photoshop ..... nothing more ....

7. I understand that you also create artwork for band album covers and things like that, what are your future goals with your art? where do you want to ideally take this? 

Yes, of course ... I've done many images dedicated to bands that had a lot of success in the past (a sort of Tribute)

and I'm also making images of contemporary bands ....

I really like music and I've done a lot of works just like Fan-Art ..... obviously hoping that some day one of my images will be chosen for the cover of some CD or that I will ....

the truth, it's more, Love for Art.

8.What about music? do you have any older favorites you listened to in the past? and what about today, who are some of your current favorite musical artists?

 I have always been inclined towards Black Metal ..... and something about Folk .....

I grew up listening to Black Sabbath in my childhood and then everything changed when Evol came into my life in the year of 1993 ....

I think I'm the biggest Evol fan ... I even have a page called " Evol Cult "  that together with other great friends we make a tribute to these great musicians.

Falkenbach also marked my life with his great songs .....

and now, the Epic Black Metal and the athmospheric Black Metal fill my life completely .....

Being the top of the list, SummoninG, Emyn Muil, NumenoR.

9.Tell us more about your creative process, do you use music or have a special setting or mood you set up for creating your artwork?

do you have a studio or place to work out of or is it just at home for now?

Yes, I believe that music is 90% of the inspiration that is needed to create ...

there is no comparison to what is achieved when the environment is conducive, but without music it will never be the same .....

At home there will always be that special corner to devote to what you really love doing ... of course.

10. Do you have any current or future projects that you are excited about and working on you can tell us about?

Yes of course .... I have two invitations from bands to create their logos and if everything goes well, I will be creating the cover for their CDs and other things .... for the moment is all I can say and trusting that everything comes out all right.

11. I personally wanted to ask you, have you ever created artwork for an official published book or would you be interested in doing this in the future? 

The reason for asking is because im creating a sort of collaborative book, which will feature submissions, art, and knowledge from a few chosen people from all over the world, i was hoping you would be interested, and could possibly create some custom art or graphic details for it?

I have been involved in some things, but nothing that has been important ..... but obviously I am open to continue exploring and exploiting my potential, always trying to make my work and my efforts and dedication pleasant for others ... Of course you can count on me ..... !!!

12. So if its ok to ask, What else do you enjoy doing for fun? concerts, travel, parties ? tell us a bit about what you like to do on your free time?

Have you met any cool or interesting people through your art career that you are actually friends with now?

Well ... my passion is the images ..... all the time I'm with something on this in my head ... I'm not a very sporty person, but I refuse to use the car and I really like to walk ..... and my greatest virtue, I think it's that I'm a good beer drinker .....Of course, if ..... I had the honor of chatting with great legends of music ... obviously from the one I hear ... but this I owe to a large extent to the person who made My whole career as a designer was worth it ..... Hekata Rusimova and his immense knowledge about music and especially his great friendships ... I could get in touch with people that until then I considered untouchable people.

13.  As an artist im sure you have had your ups and downs, and making money off of it is often very hard to do, what is your advice for other artists like yourself? anything you would tell yourself if you could go back a few years and change something? I personally understand as i creator myself, you have to love what you do because it is very time consuming and takes alot to create something with quality..do you agree?

Yes At this moment, making money with this kind of work is very difficult, because nowadays, anyone with a computer and two simple programs can do anything without having experience ...

but there are many things why experience makes a difference .....

because many times it is not about simply putting an image or a logo in a photo ..... behind this there is much more .....

with this I do not want to discourage anyone, on the contrary, practice makes the Master .....

obviously every profession has its ups and downs ... and its moments of crisis, when you wonder if at some point all your effort will be worth it .... but regardless of all that, the love for what I do is what drives me to keep going no matter what....

Well I just want to end this interview by saying that is a very great honor and opportunity to have you as a friend and a supporter and cover artist for projects.

Your artwork is very unique and i have not seen anything like it...so we encourage you to continue your great work as it inspires us and many others around the world as well!

Thank you we look forward to what the future brings!

-Tim Raven Rotar

Follow and support Ian Alba and his artwork at this link below 

https://www.deviantart.com/ian6black/art/Ian-Alba-Summoning-759457483