Ryan: The big question everyone should have an answer to: Why are you an illustrator? What inspired you or made you decide that this was a lifestyle you’re most interested in?

Arta: Well I’ve always drawn from a young age. I think maybe it’s to do with my name because I have art in my name, haha. Yeah, from a young age I was always like I’m going to be an artist. Initially I was going to go into Fine Arts, but then realized it wasn’t really me.

Ryan: Who’s your favorite illustrator and why?

Arta: This is a tough one… I really like Moonassi. I got really into his work; his use of negative and positive space, and I think that sort of shows in my work actually. He’s my favorite at the moment, but I have quite a few random inspirations that I find. There’s one guy, Owen Gent, who paints really beautifully and I really want to paint like him, so I’m gonna try next semester to do more work kind of in his style.

Ryan: What do you always have with you (despite the essentials: phone, wallet, etc.) that you can’t leave home without?

Arta: I have a fish eye camera that I take. I don’t really take photos with it often, but when I really want to use it I do and I make a point of taking it with me. I’m getting back into photography, because I was really into it when I was sixteen, but it sort of fizzled out. I make a point of doing it now.

Ryan: Weirdest thing you’ve ever drawn or put into your sketchbook?

Arta: Haha, let me think about this… I use to have a scrapbook that I put random things in. I should do that again actually, because that was fun. I just have random nights out and stick things in there, like tickets and memorabilia.

Ryan: It’s 3am in the morning, you know you’re gonna have to pull an all-nighter to get your project done for critique that day and you just had your seventh cup of coffee; in your delirious state of exhaustion you hallucinate the ghosts of Illustration past, present, and future. Who would these ghosts be and what would they say to you?

Arta: Quentin Blake would take me back to when I was a kid reading Roald Dahl, and first realising I wanted to be an artist. He would remind me of a time where making art was a care-free experience. Our very own 3D teacher Glenn LaVertu would probably be the ghost of the present, because Glenn. He would say ‘why are you using the wrong glue?’. The ghost of illustration future would be the finished assignment, telling me I can complete it in time. At that point I would notice I was hallucinating and probably make a note to call a psychiatrist the next day.

Ryan: Which do you relate more to and why? Edvard Munch’s The Scream or Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory?

Arta: Oh definitely the latter, haha. I mean I love surrealism and Dalí is my man. I don’t know I’m less expressionistic; I like the surreal and weird. His (Dalí) mind is always fascinating to me.