Interview with Digital Artist Shahan Keuork

My name is Shahan Keuork. I’m graphic designer and digital artist.

Digital Artist Shahan Keuork

About myself

I’m originally from Armenia, born and raised in #Iraq and now I live in #Canada. I enjoy making #digital arts, experimenting with typography and learning 3D software.

Shahan’s Workstation

Shahan Keuork Workstation

How you come in painting/art field

I always liked drawing when I was a kid, but like most of the kids I lost interest after few years. Then I got a copy of #photoshop back in 2005 when I was still in my country, so I started missing around and doing silly image #manipulations with it. Lots of things happened afterwards, we left the country and I totally forgot about photoshop. Even when I arrived to Canada I still didn’t remember photoshop until 2012 that’s when I started to take it seriously and made it my career.

Which is your first art work

I don’t remember exactly, but like I mentioned I started with these silly photo manipulations back in 2005 and I don’t have them anymore to be honest.

Shahan’s art work

Experimental work

Ninlil by shahanb

Juba by shahanb

Millennium by shahan

Question mark by shahanb

fawf

Mira by shahanb

How much time you spend in a week

I spend around 3-4 hours at night after I come back from work on creating and experimenting with some quick daily artworks that I publish on my Instagram. On Weekends, I usually spend 10 hours.

Tools of work

#Photoshop, #illustrator, #Cinema4D, #3Dcoat and #keyshot for rendering sometimes.

Do you have social profile or page

www.shahankeuork.com
shahanb.deviantart.com
www.behance.net/shahankeuork
www.instagram.com/shahan_k01
I post almost daily on Instagram

Do you have qualified degree in relevant field?

I’ve studied graphic design at Seneca College in #Toronto, #Ontario. I didn’t receive diploma because I didn’t finish few general education courses. But I finished all the graphic design courses. So you can say my diploma is on hold at the moment.

What you do other activities in daily life

I play video games when I need to take a break from art and design. Also, I watch a lot funny videos on youtube.

Currently are you working with any company or freelancing

I’m working as a digital designer at Bell Media. It’s a full time contract position which will end in July. I do work for all Canadian Discovery Networks. Mostly designing poster artworks for discovery TV shows that are used in television, mobile apps, and online websites.

A message for newer designers/artists

Get good at doing what you do before trying to be original. It’s fine to copy from others when you’re just starting out, but just give the artists you copied from some credit so it doesn’t look like it’s a poor rip off. This way you will learn from the decisions they made, techniques, etc. And you will be good in no time. Once you are confident then start trying to find a style that represents you. Finally, take online courses or read related magazines. There are lots of valuable tutorials on Gumroad website for cheap prices. You can also try Lynda or DigitalTutors these are all good resources that helped me a lot to improve my skills.

Your inspired artists

I’m heavily inspired by modern CGI artists like Mike Campau, Adam Spizak and Mike Winkelmann (beeple). Also, a lot of video game/movie concept artists like Aaron Limonick, Andree Wallin, Steve Wang, James Paick, Anthony Jones and many others.