Interview With AluraRB

Meet AluraRB - she's a wizard, pirate, and a community member. We all have our little "claim to fame" or special trades that are unique to a person, and Alura expresses herself through stunning, creative, and humorous pieces of artwork. Through her pieces, many showcased on her blog (click), Alura has stunned the community and effectively brings a whole note of happiness to players. Today, I got to sit down with Alura via Gmail and have an interview of twelve questions covering artwork, general Pirate/Wizard101, and maybe a few general questions in there, too. Welcome to Destiny's Travels, Alura!

AluraRB, welcome to Destiny's Travels - here, have a cup of tea. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Yay for tea :D

My favorite ARB piece 

The community loves your artwork! What program do you use, and how do you use it? (mouse, tablet, etc.) Can you draw by hand at all?

I use Paint Tool Sai (link for download if people are interested) and I use a Wacom Intuos5 tablet to draw now. And I do a fair amount of traditional artwork (mostly ink, watercolor, and pencil doodles during the day).

Have you had any past experience in art? How much?

I started doing silly little comics about five years ago. From there I started doing more serious works. Then a little over a year ago I got my first Wacom Bamboo tablet and started digital art!

You draw a lot of Wizard101 and Pirate101 themed artwork, what fueled your decision? Do you sketch "about" other games, abstract, or real life?

Wizard/Pirate101 really got me going seriously with art. Just for some reason it sparks my imagination. And I do plenty of funny sketches about school and similar things. I do draw other things, but about 70% of my art is Wizard/Pirate101 related.

I know this is a hard one, but what piece of yours is your favorite? Why, and is there a story behind it?
Hnrngnrn, yeah, that is a tough one. It's like asking a parent which child is their favorite. I'd have to say it's my Pirate-Style and Wizard-Style animations, because they are silly drawings that make me lolz.

Admit it - you LOVE this one!

If you never started drawing, what would you do?

Probably would of done something science-y. I really liked science until I realized that it would be a lot of work to understand and to do well in that field, and I'm lazy :D

Let's talk about your characters, wizards and pirates. Could you explain a bit about them?

Well my characters in my comics are slightly based on my real characters. The wizard, Alura, is goofy, happy, and just silly. The pirate, Roberts, is more serious. She isn't really mean, but just more..serious? She is also a heavy yum drinker :D. And there is Alura's pet strange beast, which likes to eat everything and likes to nom-nom on Roberts. Yay!

What's your favorite part of Wizard101? Pirate101?

Wizard101 would be the spells and worlds. It's just amazing how they look and such. Pirate101 would have to be the epic slow-mo and the yum. The yum is just grand :D

Pet hatching - should it come to Pirate101? What about ranked PvP?

I think it would be fun for the pet hatching, but I think it will be awhile before it comes out. And I'm not much of a Pvp person, but I think ranked Pvp will be nice if it came out :D

Sink or Slash - would you rather sink a ship when you're battling, or do you like to hop on and fight? Why?

Sink. Again, I'm lazy. Less time and effort spent on battles/quests the better.

What is your motto for life?

Laziness is a virtue when it motivates you to do great things.

Last one - What is your advice to aspiring artists?

Draw. You can only get better when you actually draw. You can read every book, you can watch every video, but you won't learn anything until you draw. Draaaaaaaaw :D

Keep Traveling!

Thanks, Alura, for sitting down with me, then meeting up in-game for screenshots and a bit of goofing around! If you want to check out Alura's blog, then you can do so HERE, and if you want to keep in touch with her via Twitter, then jonesey over HERE. From meeting and plaing around with her, I found out that Alura is a great friend and inspiration through art and generosity.