Interview with Tidus Flame

The smog was clearing when I entered West Smithfield. Once again I went to London, this time to meet Tidus Flame. A German artist with many talents. We agreed to meet at  the Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital , or Barts, that stands in the shadow of Saint Paul cathedral. West Smithfield truely of of those odd places were multiple periods of our history that seem to run through each other. 

Just past the Henry VIII Gate I find mister Flame in the courtyard were he's sitting there behind an easel, penceling away on large piece of paper. 

'Guten Tag! Mister Flame I presume?'
The artist looks up from his work and nods.'Guten tag.'
Immediately I want to satisfy my curiousity and have a glance at his drawing. But Flame stops me. 'Please don't look. It isn't finished yet.'
'Oh, all right.'
Meanwhile Flame keeps drawing franticly. 'Are you sure I shoudn't come back some other time.'
'No please, ask your questions. I'm nearly done'

Dankaert Lexicon: Ok then. Let's start with what do you do in your daily life?

Tidus Flame: I´m a male nurse, musician (Piano) and I do my pencil drawings. I play roleplaying games on my Computer. Jrpg’s, like Final Fantasy and Zelda, but also titles like Skyrim. I also write steampunk and science fiction stories for my own PC games. That’s it.

I make also make my own videogames and characters. But those are secret projects

Dankaert: What kind of drawing do you make?

Tidus Flame: I draw portraits for about a half year. Is easy to find these because we live in a selfie-world. All people like to photograph themselves. There are so many creative selfies, with some nice lighting and great facial expressions. Apart from those I sometimes draw videogame or movie characters, but this is a small number at the moment.

Do you have any favorite artists?

Not really, but I have a favorite composer. Joe Hisaishi from studio Ghibli. I love the way he plays his piano and I can relax very well to his music.

Dankaert: When did you start drawing?

Tidus :  I draw my whole life. At fourteen I started with some 

Mangasketches. During my training as a   male nurse, I started to sketch some portraits out of my head. Since October last year I draw the selfie-stuff.

Dankaert: How did you learn about Steampunk?

Tidus:   I never really learned about Steampunk. I feel like, I live it?! All things that I have done so far belonged to Steampunk. I have never really thought about it beyond that. It just part of me.

Dankaert:  What makes you want to draw Steampunk?

Tidus: You can draw Steampunk? 

Dankeart: Good point. Maybe a poorly phrased question.

Tidus: I think the combination of retrofuturistic elements make a subject steampunk, but in the end I draw people. I love the way people live their Steampunk. There are so many creative men and women and I want to capture on paper. I visit many Steampunkers and show them my drawings. All of them were very enthusiastic and motivated me to continue my work. 

Dankaert:  You usually use photo-portraits as models. How do you choose these portraits? What do you look for?

Tidus: I often look at light, shade and interesting expressions, because I like draw these things. I also aim to improve of skill in drawing lighting and shades. I use photos because it gives me time to try things out and develop new techniques.

Dankaert: What do hope to do in the future?

Tidus: I want to get much better in my art and the music I write. My desire is to draw a portrait, that looks like, 'WOW, this face is real and looks at me'. Also, I am working on game. I’ll have a demo ready later this year.

Dankaert: And who is that you're drawing?

He turned the drawing towards me. 'He was a patient that stayed here for a few days.'

I look at the face and pondered why it looked so fammiliar. 'I know that cap from somewere. Were was he from.

Tidus shruged his shoulders. 'He didn't speak much. I wish I could tell you more, but it appears his story has yet to be told.

Drawing by Tobias Eser, aka Tidus Flame. Model Bonsart Bokel