MEET LOCAL ARTIST, WIJI
This week, we caught up with NSW-based artist and hololive enthusiast Wiji to discuss her artistic influences, how she defines success as an artist, advice for anyone wanting to create art, and more. Don’t forget to support her and follow her Instagram, @wiji__02.

1. Who are your biggest artistic influences?
My biggest influence would be dekooop!! I love how unique their style is and always find myself getting motivated by their work. Recently I’ve also been getting inspiration from Rinotuna as well!! Their character designs capture the original subject so well and in many interesting ways.

2. Tell me about your favorite medium?
Favourite medium is definitely digital! I was an acrylic user for the majority of my early art career but the transition to digital felt magical. Just so much more freedom!

3. Where do you find inspiration?
Most of the time I find inspiration scrolling through Twitter. Seeing an interesting piece of work or seeing particular scenes of anime sometimes sparks ideas in my head! In rare occasions, I just sit and go in a daze for a while and suddenly get a random idea. Twitter is usually a big source of inspiration though!

4. What motivates you to create?
Sometimes I want to see a certain character do a certain thing, and what better way than to draw it myself! Being an eager consumer of my own art has been my biggest motivation so far.

5. Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Actually, I would say art tends to get in the way of other areas of my life. When I draw I like to tunnel vision on it until I finish, leading me to procrastinate on other tasks… Gets a little stressful, but I know my limits!

6. How do you define success as an artist?
I feel like a success as an artist is when you’re consistently putting out work that you love even after a long time has passed. Sometimes I see big mistakes in my previous works that I had never realised before, and while it’s a sign that I’ve improved to a point that I can now see those errors, it also means I haven’t quite succeeded yet.

7. What advice do you have for people wanting to create art?
My biggest advice would be to use as many references as you can! The human mind can be so limited and incorrect at times, and it’s surprising how wrong you can draw something without a good reference. References are also great for practice! Once you’ve drawn something once with a guide, it makes drawing that thing again much easier than starting off by drawing it once with no guide. Social media is a great source for references, and sometimes when nothing else works, taking your own picture does the trick!