Featured Pro Portfolio: Miroslav Petrov

In case you haven’t heard, certain ArtStation Pro themes just keep getting more customizable. After we received popular demand for a combination of one of the other existing themes for the home page with the new Mosaic theme for projects, it’s here! This week’s Featured Portfolio interview is with Miroslav Petrov.

Miroslav is a versatile artist who has shown promising talent since he began drawing at a young age. Inspired by the video games he loved to play, he started working as a game artist at Masthead studios in 2006 but left to pursue his own business and to branch out in more diverse creative directions. Currently, he works as a freelance concept artist and illustrator based in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In this interview, he shares tips from his years of expertise with us:

What is the best piece of art advice you’ve ever received?

I received very strong and helpful advice during my years of development and some of them affected my drawings skills in a very positive way. I can’t tell you that I received any advice that is too mind-blowing and changed my whole world, but I had the chance to meet and talk with some of the best in the industry. That definitely showed me the right way.

One of the artists that I had the chance to talk with was the legendary Stephan Martiniere, whom I met in 2010 on art festival called Behind the Iron Curtain.

https://www.martiniere.com/

What he said to me was that I have to focus on certain things and to become very good at that one subject and only after that, when I get enough knowledge, to continue drawing other genres. As you probably noticed in my portfolio, I am focused mostly in character design but I also do other art.

Where is your favorite place to get inspiration?

I can’t say that I have a very specific one. However, it sounds cliché but nature was always a huge inspiration and affects well on the mood of the artist. So I’d say the forest is the best so far. It’s very good for a man to travel around the world and gather information from everywhere and to watch and learn from the world and from the small to the biggest things that surround us. One of my favorite things to do is to step away from my normal life for a while – to recharge my batteries and to get back home with a clean mind fresh for new ideas. Not to mention my ideas have nothing to do with the places I’ve been visually but it keeps me fresh.

What skills do you think it’s most important to demonstrate in your portfolio?

Ok, I am going to separate it on two sides.

Professional: I think that I am very good at adapting in certain styles and I can easily go through many tasks that are out of my comfort zone without feeling that it’s a problem. Of course, there is a border and I don’t want to do everything because I don’t like everything, but I’d say I can step into the requirements.

Personal: I am always trying to find new methods and ideas for my work. Something as developing my own style as much as I can. It sounds like it contradicts the above-mentioned, but when I do personal work I try to manage my interests.

What is a common mistake you see beginners make and what’s your solution for it?

From what I see and what I hate is that a lot of people copy other artists in a bad way and forget to do real things and to develop their own new styles. I noticed that some of the young artists are trying to become somebody else, to look like some famous artist, using same brushes and etc. and they are killing their identity by that and I did the same mistake. That can be seen also in many personal portfolios which is sad. I agree if you want to go to a studio with a defined style, you should create few works and show them what you can, but never forget that you’re in some way a god in what you do. Don’t kill the creativity in you and try to distinguish yourself from the masses as much as you can. Be unique in some aspects.

I agree with the common opinion that people should start with the basics and spend a little time in real drawing until they get good enough to do whatever they want. It’s very destructive that people who can’t draw are starting with photo bashing before they learn to do it in the right way. I don’t mind using photos but you gotta know what you’re doing.

Please just sit and draw!