I think we waited way too long to introduce you to our favourite illustrator/ designer/ creator.
Remember the fox? Fox in the rain, fox in the grass, jumping fox, fox and snow, sleeping fox?
All these beauties were created by Linas Kleinas. He is my cousin (in fact we were born the same exact day, same year! Only 2 hours apart). We also have an aunt that we used to call Lape (fox in Lithuania) and to be honest we still prefer calling her that instead of her real name. Here comes our mutual love for foxes haha.
Me: So when did you start to draw?
Linas: Well, I guess you could say at maybe 4 years old when I started drawing little stick figures and scribbles on the wallpapers at my old home (mom was not amused at all). Later I picked up a piece of paper like a normal human being and used colored pens markers and pencils to draw abstract things. Made a few local children exhibitions too. Tried painting but that didn't stick to me much. After that I started animating with Adobe (them Macromedia) Flash and I still use it to draw the Foxes too! I Use Corel products too.
Me: What's inspiring you the most? Music, famous painter/artist?
Linas: Comedy, internet and random thoughts in the evening I suppose. You could say music too. It's a really big part of my life. I've been in one band or another for maybe 15 years now, last band is active for the last 4 now. However, even though music is so important to me I rarely associate it with something visual. Or at least something specific. It more of a concoction of various emotions.
Me: Is there a specific time you tend to draw or feel the most inspired?
Linas: I noticed that I tend to draw when I'm in a good mood only.
Me: Foxes. Why do you think foxes are so popular and people's favourite?
Linas: I can't say for sure why the fox drawings are so universally accepted but I think it has something to do that basically it's half cat half dog. Everyone loves cats and dogs (or at least one of the two) so it's kind of the best of both worlds you could say.
Me: Do you have your favourite drawing?
Linas: I think it would have to be the Fox in the rain. There's a joke behind it actually. A linguistic joke (I know exciting right?!). I'll try to explain it to my English speaking friends: Fox in Lithuanian is Lapė, Wet in Lithuanian is Šlapia. So if you join the two words together it becomes Šlapė. So a fox in the rain is Šlapė. Because it's wet... get it? Nevermind...It a dumb little absurd joke. I like absurdities.
Me: Tell us a bit about yourself. Work, leisure, hobbies?
Linas: I work in a sports shop as a purchase manager. Yes, it has nothing to do with drawing but I do design all the advertisements and such. My free time is divided between band rehearsals, trying to get into bicycle painting and video games. As said, we're playing for about 4 years now with the band. Were called It Was Us, but don't expect to find anything on the web - at least at the time of writing this we are only now stabilizing after multiple studio changes and member changes. So hopefully something will come soon :) Bike painting is another thing I really want to get into. I love cycling (cycle to work everyday), I love careful detailed drawings so it was only logical to start painting on bicycles.
I'm working on my own bike now which will be inspired by my good painter friend of glowingline.com. You might want to check out her work, its pretty great! And of course video games are a big passion of mine and always was. I can ramble about them and the artistic aspect of them all day if you let me.
P.S. I was a bit nosy and found something on the web about Linas' band. It was Us.
Check the links below:
https://www.facebook.com/itreallywasus/
I hope Linas will be in very good mood soon ;)
Thank you all for reading and if you have any questions ask them in the comments!
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