Artist Spotlight: BaraChan
Name: Rose Besch (Barachan)
Location: ATL, GA, USA
Tumblr: barachan.tumblr.com
Store: society6.com/barachan
Both — most of my jobs are done digitally because of the greater flexibility CG provides, but I grew up doing traditional work and still love getting away from my computer to do the occasional marker or watercolor piece.
For digital work, I use a Wacom Intuos3 6×8″ tablet, a microsoft surface pro, and Photoshop CC. Lately, I’ve been trying to learn vector, so I’ve been using Illustrator CC as well. For traditional work, I use a variety of tools, but most often I use strathmore bristol, 0.7mm mechanical pencils (brand doesn’t matter,) Copic multiliners, and Copic markers.
Tons! Too many to name, really, and there are a lot of creators and art movements outside of just modern illustrators that inspire me as well. A few of my favorites at the moment are Am, Mucha, Gomoku Akatsuki, Hideaki Fujimoto, Perry Dixon Maple and Sachin Teng.
5. What’s your favourite subject matter to draw?One of my newer characters is a lady named Porcelain; I guess the easiest way to describe her is to imagine a cross between Cruella de Vil and Lady Gaga. She’s a super-fab mob boss who’s obsessed with art of all kinds and thinks creativity is humanity’s greatest strength, but she just comes across as crazy and scary to most people. She’s kind of OK with that, though.
For the most part, I just like to draw whatever I find fun (i.e. the aforementioned cute and fashionable things) but I also really enjoy pushing my techniques and finding new ways to make my work stand out. I don’t have much of a message or a story to tell with my art, and I’m probably not revolutionary enough to start any new art movements, but I hope just looking at my work makes others happy, and if it could continue to inspire people even after I’m gone, I think that’s all I could ask for.
Remember that even if you have a natural affinity for art, it takes a lot of time and hard work to make your work great, so please stick with it and don’t give up! Also, don’t worry too much about how other people create their art or what other people like — do whatever makes YOU happy, and that happiness will be reflected in your work. If you want to do art for a living, you need to be in love with the process of making art, rather than focusing on the end goal, so do whatever it takes to make that process enjoyable. Good luck!
