General about me
My name is Orestis, I am a 24-year-old artist and an architecture student. My art journey began about 10 years ago. I started to develop an interest in drawing and painting while attending my first freehand sketch lessons. The key subjects that I explore through my art are the meaning of dreams and the visualization of cosmic landscapes. My artworks as a whole, revolve around the dreamy fields I used to imagine while I was attending school. Painting has been a healing process for me and depicting my dreamscapes has been my main artistic goal. My main interests are traditional and digital painting, art and fashion history, makeup, collage-making, photography, and design. I have been a part of numerous art exhibitions, group, and solo ones. My first solo exhibition took place in February of 2022, and it is one of my favorite experiences thus far in my artistic journey. I have also illustrated a fantasy novel, won 3rd place in a national poster design competition, and was recently featured in an art magazine.
Inspirations
Some artists that I look up to and admire are Mark Rothko, Louise Bourgois, Mei Pang, Claude Monet, and Yayoi Kusama. I find that my interest peaks when I encounter high color contrast, bold and saturated hues, and a strong artistic direction. Other sources that I draw inspiration from are Sailor Moon, Gravity Rush, and Kingdom Hearts.
Painting Technique
I usually paint traditionally using a mixed media technique that includes watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils. During quarantine, I developed an interest in digital painting and digital collage-making, adding and mixing these techniques with my usual ones. Recently, I started experimenting with makeup and using it as a medium to further explore and navigate my artistic need to express myself. Converting my art to makeup has been a healing and very enlightening process. My color palette tends to stay consistent throughout my artworks, as I have found that violet, pink, and blue have a magical/cosmic quality to them, assisting in creating a dreamy atmosphere. My creative process usually begins with creating a mood board or a digital collage to roughly visualize the composition of a piece. Then I start sketching my ideas and lastly, I move on to creating the final piece.
Painting approach and latest project
I view the creation of an art series in a similar way singers create an album. I choose a theme that I want to explore for an art series and then I create pieces based on the stages of my exploration, incorporating various topics that I want to dive in. For example, I would describe my latest art series, ‘’Every Summer Feels the Same’’ as an EP. Since most of my art series are composed of 10 or more artworks and experiment with a theme more extensively, I would describe them as full albums. Throughout my creative process for ‘’Every Summer Feels the Same’’ I tried depicting my feelings towards summer: nostalgia, withstanding the heat, waiting for winter, revisiting locations I spent my childhood at, and the repetitiveness I always experience during the season. The connection with Solange’s album came about very naturally as I associate this album (When I Get Home) with Summer and my hometown. Speaking of which, while I was revisiting my hometown, I found myself creating new memories that defer so much from past ones, a feeling that was the driving force behind my latest art series. Almost half of the pieces were created last summer, while the other half were finished recently, throughout this summer. I used digital painting as the medium for all the pieces since it is more flexible and allows me to draw anywhere and anytime. Most, if not all, the pieces were finished outdoors in either parks or sights I usually visit during summer. My next series is probably going to be inspired by my newfound interest in makeup and the dimensional qualities of glitter in its various forms.
Lastly, I would like to express how thankful I am for the opportunity to be featured in the Goddessarts magazine and to write about me, my artistic process, and my latest project. Thank you for reading <3
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/orestisdraws/
Makeup Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/the.cloudy.eyes/
Website : https://orestisdraws.tumblr.com
Behance : https://www.behance.net/orestisdraws
Issuu : https://issuu.com/orestisdraws