Ep.37: Why going to art school might not be the best for you with Chantal Horeis

Chantal is an Illustrator and concept artist living and working in Germany. She attended the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, where she trained to draw and paint traditionally.

She enjoys working on imaginal fantasy-related projects, which she does mostly digital nowadays.

I like to describe my work as having a tendency to being melancholic and withdrawn. I love to paint adorned and graceful creatures often combined with organic and nature related elements.

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Get in touch with Chantal

Website: chantalhoreis.de
Instagram: chantalhoreis
Facebook: chantalhoreis
Tumblr: chantalhoreis

Key Takeaways

“You always have a unique thing about your art, just search for it and stay true to it”

Chantal went to school for fine arts, but instead of learning, it was a very free way of doing arts. She missed instructions, tasks that would put her through some things and make her better
Don’t quit on art! Keep learning. The drive to learn is what makes it fun, you want to get better. Nowadays with internet you can see so much out there and if you have the drive to learn, get better, compare your progress with your art from past years, you can achieve many things
In the beginning, Chantal was very overwhelmed. It was so much to learn, she thought she can never learn all of that. Later she went more with interest. You need to have a certain idea about the basics, but she is not stuck to be perfect at everything …
When Chantal does a painting and she discovers a challenge, she goes and studies about it to finish that particular drawing, because otherwise, she would have tons of studies done, but nothing finished, so she takes it more practical … She knows what she needs and she studies that

Resources mentioned

Note: some of the resources below may be affiliate links, meaning I get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

School where Chantal studied: Arts Academy in Dusseldorf
Studio where Chantal works as a concept artist: Chasing Carrots
Art tools
- Wacom tablet
- Adobe Photoshop
- Faber Castell EcoPencils
- iPad Pro with Apple Pencil and ProCreate App
Online school: Schoolism
Books:
- Andrew Loomis – Figure drawing
- The Miracle Morning
- David Bayles Art & fear – all the worries you have as an artist and it’s OK – she read it 2x
- Art Spirit – Robert Henri – he was an artist and wrote down all his thoughts around painting – you shouldn’t take all the advice without a bit of reserve – just do your research and make up your own opinion
Events where you can meet Chantal
- Trojan Horse was an Unicorn (THU)
- Comic Convention in Stuttgart – very good for networking in Europe
Nadia Mogilev – artist that inspired Chantal
Tool: Tyme2 – time tracking on her iPad