@yogatellart | @yogatella
We are are so happy to have, Denisa Herman, as our Featured Artist, she is a wonderful artist and a beautiful soul, when she’s not traveling and loving life she is creating awesome illustrations that we recommend you go check out! After learning more about Yogatella, make sure to go show her some love and hit that follow button!
Where are you from?
I travel a lot and move to another country every year. Now , I am stuck in Barcelona because this is city is kinda amazing.
However, I was born in Transylvania, just half an hour from Dracula’s castle. No kidding, check out Brasov, Romania. On Google the results will be like: “Probably the best city in the world”.
How long have you been an artist? What is your specialty? Where do u find inspiration?
Unofficially, since I was around 5 years old, when my dad was taking me with him on his business trips. Had a lot of energy and would not stay still for 2 seconds. He soon found out that I would calm down once he gave me his agenda and fancy pen to draw.
I always enjoyed drawing faces. Just faces. I would start with the contour, lips, nose, the right eye and then…epic fail: the left one was always either handicapped or covered with hair.
Afterwards, I had a long period with manga, graffiti and Japanese art. I started to find a lot of inspiration in artists like Takashi Murakami, Yoshimoto Nara, Takehiko Inoue.
I do not have a style or specialty. The main mediums I use are ink drawing, watercolour and Adobe Illustrator (mostly this one lately).
Most of the time I just study a photo and steal shades/colours from it. Other times I just have a good scrolling session on Instagram, Behance, Dribbble, DeviantArt and of course, the one and only Pinterest.
Do you have a job in the art industry? If So, what’s one thing you don’t like about it? If no, where would your dream job be?
I am currently freelancing as illustrator and studying UI and Graphic design. I am concentrating on creating a lot of art and basically just work.
The key is to look what is on the market and where is the need. What I don’t really like is talking about the financial part with the customers. If there would be someone to simply know how to negotiate all the things and spare me this time that would be great.
I also have a full time job, unrelated to art, just a techy thing. After work, I make my daily illustration and then follow the courses on Lynda, Youtube or Udemy on Design theory. I also listen to lots of design podcasts and work on reducing the procrastination habit.
My dream is to find a remote job in Graphic/UI Design and continue traveling the world while working. I love cultures and how different those are, yet every individual is the same in the end.
Do you have a favorite Artist?
Yes: Hyeronimus Bosch. I personally think, this guy was ahead of his time and am actually glad he is not so commercialized. He is kind of hard to digest.
What is one accomplishment you’ve had in your life? Does not need to be art related.
Went to Seattle, WA (with a work student visa) worked two jobs while researching for my BA project on cultural identity of Japanese Americans in the context of WW2 went back home, paid my dad the debt back and got a huge mark for my thesis.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
In 5 years: still moving from country to country, working as UI/UX designer for a Design company (remotely) and freelancing as Illustrator.
In 10 years: Living between my future homes in Innsbruck, Austria and Brasov, Romania, where I will have one cafe place full of books, one huge piano (I love playing it) and a Souvenir shop where I will sell personalized memories of those two cities based on outdoors theme (I also love sports: snowboarding, hiking, bouldering and running).
In 20 years: Commuting between Japan and Europe, acting as art&cultural ambassador of Romania/Austria in Japan. My grand-grandparents were somewhere from Austria hence this affinity for this country.
If you could meet and talk to any person in the world, dead or alive, who would it be?
My dad.
How is one way you make money with your art?
People contact me themselves but I also go to Upwork sometimes. Most of the time I just throw a hint or two around, and friends spread the word. I am not concentrating too much on making money out of art, now. This will come later, once my work is getting a refined taste and substance. I just want to work harder and by that I mean I want to immerse myself in design and not stay mediocre.
If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be and why?
The Bermuda Triangle: I am very curious what happens there exactly.
What is your favorite brand of art supply? Whether it’s a brand of pencils or brand of camera or software
Adobe Illustrator and Xd.
Micron for illustrations in ink.
Any advice for young artists?
I would say what inspired me to ignore all excuses and start drawing for real: “Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work. “ Those are the words of Chuck Close, an American artist who is now 77. These words inspired me to overcome any fear and start posting my art and work harder even though I never studied art formally. At the same time, self taught is so possible nowadays. We live in the best time ever, when it comes to free and accessible information. Ignore any insecurity, voices, excuses: just start creating.
