Interview: Dylan Fields

Today we’re joined by Dylan Fields. Dylan is a fantastic writer who is currently working on a couple stories. At present, he is working on a chapter based story that he’s uploading to DeviantArt and Fur Affinity. It’s very clear that he is a dedicated writer who loves the art. My thanks to him for taking the time to participate in this interview.

WORK

Please, tell us about your art.

I’m a fiction writer. I have quite a few story ideas just sitting in my computer, but right now, my main project is a, yet to be titled, fantasy novel. It’s about a young boy, named Nathan, who’s found in a tent with two dead wolves when he’s just an infant. Once he has grown to be 12 he and his adoptive parents discover something about himself, he’s a werewolf, meaning the two dead wolves were his birth parents, who died in their forms. He lives in a world, very similar to ours, similar time period, style of dress, and some technology, but magic and non-human creatures are openly known to everyone in the world.

The other project I’m working on is a story called Bruce and Danny, which is about an anthropomorphic grizzly bear, named Bruce, and his adopted human son, named Danny, and their life together.

What inspires you?

Honestly, what I feel inspires me the most is when I see other people make something that a lot of people enjoy. Whether it’s an indie game, a book, or a web comic, when I see that those people’s creations make others really happy, even if it doesn’t necessarily reward them financially, it makes me want to contribute, and try to see if my story ideas interest other people. It makes me think, “Wow, I can do that! I can make something like that!”

What got you interested in your field?  Have you always wanted to be an artist?

Honestly I’ve always done really well in English classes, but I didn’t really get started until I met my current girlfriend, who’s also a writer, who encouraged me to write a little more, after seeing the little bit of stuff I had, and I realized I really liked writing my own original stories.

I started out just writing some fan-fiction, in high school, which you can still find on my Deviant Art page. But eventually I started thinking of my own original ideas and putting those down on paper.

I haven’t always thought of being a writer, even now I’m currently majoring in the healthcare field. But I still really like doing it as a hobby, and would love to upload, or even publish more of my stuff in the future.

Do you have any kind of special or unique signature, symbol, or feature you include in your work that you’d be willing to reveal?

Hm…Not that I can think of. I am particularly partial to including bears in my stories. One of the main characters in Bruce and Danny is an anthropomorphic grizzly bear, and in my werewolf story there’s a larger bear that guards the forest outside of the main character’s town. They’re just my favorite animal, and I can’t help but put them in. That’s the closest thing to a “signature” that I can think of.

What advice would you give young aspiring artists?

Never be afraid to show your work to people, even if you don’t think it’s that good. It’s always great to get feedback on your work, that way you can improve where you need to.

Also don’t let your creative work make you lose track of your life. Everyone’s human and sometimes life gets in the way and you need to take a break and that’s fine. It’s okay to put your art on hiatus if you need to take care of some things in your life.

ASEXUALITY

Where on the spectrum do you identify?

Pretty sure I’m Greysexual, currently in a relationship with a demisexual woman.

Have you encountered any kind of ace prejudice or ignorance in your field?  If so, how do you handle it?

Mainly over the internet, none really in real life. I mostly just handle the clearly irrational comments with a lot of sarcasm, and lame jokes. But when I encounter someone who’s clearly just ignorant on ace issues, but aren’t being malicious about it, I do my best to explain what being ace is actually like, so that they’re more informed and have a better perspective.

What’s the most common misconception about asexuality that you’ve encountered?

That, “if you’re asexual you can’t acknowledge when someone is good looking, or laugh at sexual jokes, etc.” Just because I don’t feel sexual attraction doesn’t mean I can’t find humor in a sexual pun or think that someone looks good today.

What advice would you give to any asexual individuals out there who might be struggling with their orientation?

You’re not “broken” and you aren’t alone. Just because you aren’t attracted to anyone, opposite sex or same sex, doesn’t make you any less valid than anyone else. This especially goes out to anyone reading this of middle school to high school age. I had a lot of confusion about what I was at that age, and I feel like if I had known there was a term for what I was, I wouldn’t have felt so alone, or that there was something wrong with me. If you’re repulsed by sex, that’s fine. If you only feel sexual attraction in certain circumstances, that’s fine too.

Finally, where can people find out more about your work?

You can find the completed chapters of Bruce and Danny on my Fur Affinity page and my Deviant Art page.

I also have a Tumblr, feel free to ask me about my stuff, including my novel. Maybe I’ll post a preview of my novel sometime in the future.

Thank you, Dylan, for participating in this interview and this project. It’s very much appreciated.

Interview: Kayla Nissen

Today we’re joined by Kayla Nissen.  Kayla is an incredibly passionate and talented musician.  When she contacted me, she firmly declared that music was her art and I really admired that.  It was even more apparent in her interview how wonderfully dedicated she is to music.  My thanks to her for taking the time to participate in this interview.

WORK

Please, tell us about your art.

My art is my music. I’ve played piano the longest but I also play flute and ukulele and I’m starting to learn mandolin. Since I do most of my work on my piano I’ll tell you about that. I started out just playing what I was assigned in lessons which was almost all classical. I started doing covers a few years ago of songs I liked with my ukulele or piano. I’ve recently wanted to play contemporary piano solos and that has been my challenge lately. I’ve done an open mic night and I performed in a school variety show. In that show I did show choir, jazz choir, I accompanied someone on piano and I also did a solo performance. I’m super shy around people but I’m hardly nervous at all while performing. I also do a little bit of fanart and nature photography when I’m not doing music.

What inspires you?

The music I listen to inspires me to recreate that music. For example if I hear a song I think I can learn to play I will immediately stop everything to either find music or learn it by ear. My own music inspires me by pushing me to do things out of my comfort zone. I do piano recitals every year and I plan on auditioning for that variety show I mentioned before again. If I wasn’t confident enough in how I played I wouldn’t do those things and I would probably be a lot less happy. I’ve also been told I inspire people and surprise them because nobody really knows I can sing. I make people cry with my music sometimes so that’s a good feeling. My goal is to always make people feel something when I play even when it’s instrumental.

What got you interested in your field?  Have you always wanted to be an artist?

I grew up with people playing music so I’ve always been pushed in that direction. For drawing/painting and photography… I just picked it up as a hobby and I turned out to really like it. My grandpa is a painter so he helped me get started.

My great grandparents performed in medicine shows during the depression and both my grandpa and dad play guitar. When I was very little I wanted to be a rock star but I gave up on that. I picked up the piano when I was still in elementary school but I never wanted to perform until about a year ago. So you could say I’ve always wanted to play music but I wasn’t always on that path. I’m going to be studying to be a music teacher soon so maybe that counts as following my dream. We’ll see.

Do you have any kind of special or unique signature, symbol, or feature you include in our work that you’d be willing to reveal?

I’ve been told my voice is unique but I don’t think that counts. I don’t really have a thing that I do every time I perform or cover a song but now I’m going to think about it. Maybe my signature thing will be throwing confetti at the audience at the end of my show.

What advice would you give young aspiring artists?

PRACTICE! Never stop practicing if you want to be good at anything. Honestly I should be practicing now and so should you.

ASEXUALITY

Where on the spectrum do you identify?

I identify as greysexual but I haven’t figured out my romantic orientation. I’ve only recently started identifying as greysexual because I didn’t want to be. I was denying it almost because I thought no one would want me but I’ve accepted it now and I’m happy with it.

Have you encountered any kind of ace prejudice or ignorance in your field?  If so, how do you handle it?

I haven’t really had any conversations about sexuality with other musicians so I haven’t personally encountered prejudice but I’m sure I will at some point.

What’s the most common misconception about asexuality that you’ve encountered?

For me not being strictly asexual a lot of people have no idea what I’m talking about when I say I’m greysexual. I think a lot of people don’t believe in it or don’t even know it exists and that goes for a lot of sexualities not just asexual.

What advice would you give to any asexual individuals out there who might be struggling with their orientation?

Don’t run away from who you are! It’s ok not to be sure and if you don’t want a label don’t worry about it. Everything will work out.

Finally, where can people find out more about your work?

Some of my older covers and art can be found on my Tumblr page (sgt-booty-barnes.tumblr.com) and just search the tag ‘mine’ or ‘cover’

Another way is to check out my YouTube channel just search Kayla Nissen and my profile picture is a purple twenty one pilots logo. There should be a few covers there. If you can’t find my stuff shoot me a message on Tumblr (sgt-booty-barnes.tumblr.com) and I’ll gladly help you out!

Thank you, Kayla, for participating in this interview and this project.  It is very much appreciated.