Teine Draws

Dema: A completely valid way to learn!

Teine: My learning to do 'traditional' art was similar. But with more wasted paper.

Dema: I did want to ask you about that. I know you've mentioned you were discouraged from doing art by a teacher when you were a kid (pardon me but, fuck that guy). What inspired you to give it a go again, despite that past experience?

Teine: I’m not sure really... I really liked drawing as a kid, then during lockdown needed something to do to kill time. I started with water colours because I loved how they looked… and I was absolutely terrible with them. Tried charcoal next, same story. Basically I just went through mediums one by one, terrible with them all. Then last year (or maybe the start of this year) I tried ink and markers, and something finally clicked.

Dema: Oh wow, so really in the last 5 years?

Teine: Yeah. Pretty much. Before that I did a bit of technical drawing about 10 years ago through a job, but otherwise I’d convinced myself that I just couldn't draw.

Dema: I am so glad you un-convinced yourself.

Teine: Oh and a few terrible drawings on a white board when I was very briefly a teacher. I think I traumatised an entire class with my attempt to draw a kidney.

Dema: HAHAHA

Teine: (I taught maths and pharmocology, wasn't just drawing random kidneys)

Dema: Do you have any advice or tips for people who are just starting out on their art journey?

Teine: Erm... not sure. I guess to keep trying different mediums and styles. Oh and that stuff doesn't need to look perfect. That was an issue I had for a while, but I’ve learned that you can often suggest something with just a few lines or shapes, and the brain fills in the rest. It doesn’t need to be hyper-detailed to be effective.

Dema: What do you like drawing most?

Teine: That’s a deceptively tricky question — I’m not totally sure! I really like trying to get expressions right, and apparently I’m a bit of a freak who genuinely enjoys drawing armour. There’s something really satisfying about it, though I can’t quite explain why. I also like playing with dynamic poses—my style leans more comic/anime, so it naturally pushes toward expressive characters and big movement, which makes experimenting with that really fun.

Dema: Is there a piece you're particularly proud of?

Teine: I've not really shared many of my pieces yet to be honest... I’ve got a few I’m really proud of, but they’re still secret right now because they’re for ongoing events. But of the things I have shared, I have a One Piece Zoro/Sanji post thriller bark piece that I am very proud of.

Dema: I'm gunna ask you a hard question, I'm sorry: what makes art good, in your opinion? What about writing?

Teine: Wow that is a hard question...I think maybe things that make you feel something? Writing-wise, I like things that pull you into someone's head, that make you care about what they care about and see the world through them. Art-wise... I have no idea. I still feel very imposter syndrome-y about art stuff. It's often a case of I know what I like but not why I like it. Like I have a 'strange' soft spot for surrealist art, which some people seem to think is odd. I can't say why I like it though.

Dema: MMMMM I totally want to press on that one (I also love surrealist art).Do you like it just in general or is there a specific artist you like a lot?

Teine: I honestly only really realized that I liked it as a style a few months ago when I was procrastinating from writing by making a mood board and some stuff came up in my searches.Junji Ito is one I found. Hannah Yata, that was another one. I can't remember the names of the others...

Dema: What other kinds of things are on your mood board?

Teine: Lots of [redacted] but that's getting close to spoilers of the fic.

Dema: Oooooh okay I'll leave that one alone then (but I love itttt)! Switching to writing for a bit, how long have you been writing fanfiction?

Teine: About 2 years I think. I was a bit late to the whole online fandom thing to be honest. I mean I read it before that, but first made an AO3 account maybe 2.5 years ago solely because I had been reading this fic for months and needed to comment on it. Then a few months after that I wrote a very short One Piece fic. DA fics came a bit later after I joined tumblr and was shocked to find that DA still had a fan base that wasn't just me.

Dema: Was One Piece your first fandom?

Teine: Online-wise yeah. OP came first. Offline-wise... I think I got into both around the same time. I first got into DA about 2 weeks after origins came out. And had been reading OP manga for maybe 4 months before that. It just never occurred to me to look online for other people.

Dema: What prompted you to finally look? Or did it just come across your dash?

Teine: I think I was reading a OP fic on AO3 and it had a discord link in the author notes. Before that I had only used discord for DnD. So I joined that server, then ended up making a tumblr. And now you are all stuck with me.

Dema: Hahaha. It is pretty wild that the Dragon Age fandom is still attracting new people, and is still so vibrant and active, even before the Veilguard release when the game was objectively old AF.

Teine: It was. Honestly before joining tumblr I doubted that there was anyone still active in DA. I mean it had been at least 12 years since I’d seen anyone do a DA cosplay at a comic con (which was my only real reference point for what was popular before I joined discord and tumblr).

Dema: Oh, do you go to many cons?(I have never been to one but always wanted to go!)

Teine: Less than I used to. My local one is a bit meh to be honest. Though saying that, Gareth David-Lloyd was a guest at my local one earlier this year. So I did a Merrill cosplay so I could get a picture with him. I needed Merrill to meet Solas.

Dema: NO WAY. Oh my god I am so jealous.

Teine: I got to his table. He said 'hi Merrill' and my brain died.

Dema: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Teine: According to my partner it was 'the most awkward social interaction he'd ever witnessed.'

Dema: Okay how dare he. That is amazing. I'm sure many people were way more awkward. Did you make your cosplay?

Teine: I did. In about 10 days because I was very late checking who the guests were. Usually we get the cast of Red Dwarf every year, so I'd stopped looking.

Dema: Did you scream when you saw the guest list. I would have.

Teine: I am not as expressive as that.

Dema: Fair enough, fair enough. (See!? You could have been WAY more awkward.) Alright Teine we are in our last minute, and since you are both a writer and an artist this year, I will let you choose: would you rather come up with a no-spoilers clickbait title for your fic, or a florida man-esque headline about yourself as an artist?

Teine: I have zero idea what a florida man-esque headline is... but I did know about the clickbait titles thing, so cheated slightly and came up with these yesterday: “Shocking! Emotional Repression Has Side Effects,” “Feelings, Curses, and the Revolutionary Concept of Talking About It,” “Local [redacted] and [redacted] Compete for Most Repressed.”

Dema: I love that you came prepared haha. Thank you for taking the time to chat today, Teine! I hope you have a lovely evening.:

Teine: Same to you. But... 'day' I think, given time zones.

This list is a combination of things that I find both fun to draw and scary to draw! Strong emphasis on doing these out of order or not at all. I'll be linking my art here as the month goes on:

Horse (bonus: do not look up what a horse looks like)

Robot.

Playing an instrument.

Clothes with lots of layers

Your favourite flower.

Boat. Of any kind (a spaceship is also a boat).

Sword.

The character you were obsessed with when you were 12.

Someone holding a tea cup.

Cats!

Someone lying down.

Space filling scribbles.

A whole Skeleton.

Just a skull (Any is fine).

Backgrounds are scary. Draw your room.

Man am I ever afraid of hands.

Chickens.

Jellyfish.

I miss my florals. Another flower.

Feet of any animal. Too many bones.

Glasses.

Rodents.