1. Your art features a lot of dark gothic themes. Do you enjoy this type of art more than lighter styles? If so, why?
I don’t know if I would say that I enjoy painting darker themes more than lighter ones. It just seems that the ideas that come to me are more often dark. I love to paint in black and grays or in a monochromatic color scheme. I know some artists say that they get bored if there aren’t a lot of colors or they don’t get to change colors often, but this has never seemed to be the case with me. Also I have always had a love for horror books and movies and am greatly inspired by them…Vampires in particular. So I will often take those influences and combine them with my love for Faeries/fantasy and then I have my gothy fantasy art.
2. Your bio at Deviant art states that you are inspired by heavy metal music. Who are your favorites?
Yes! I can’t create without music. I have to have it on; it helps with my artistic flow. 
I would say that Opeth is my absolute favorite. It seems like no matter what mood I am in, they have something that will suit it. My other favorites are In Flames, Children of Bodom and Pantera.
3. You write as well as create art. What do you write about and does it tie in with your art in any way?
My writing is about a fantasy world that I created a few years ago. Its main inhabitants are Elves, Faeries and Demons. The Demons are the enemies of the other races and have a dream of taking over the world. The Faeries kind of live separate from the rest but the threat still concerns them. The Faery world is the one that fascinates me most and was, ironically, the last part that I created. That is basically just a hobby of mine. I’m not quite as confident in my writing as I am in my art, but maybe someday that will change. It still needs a lot of organization and development. Some of my art is indeed based on my writing. I love to draw my characters. The fact that I end up drawing more from my stories than actually writing them has tipped me off that art is my greatest love. I’ll get an idea for a new character, and his/her story and then I’ll be thinking, “You know what? I have to draw them!!” lol
4. Do you use reference photos when creating your art? What is your take on this?
Yes, I use reference photos. I find them very helpful for getting anatomy right and realistic. I am trying to be slightly less dependant on them so that if I am unable to find a reference that fits my idea, I can still pull off the pose that I imagined and have it look natural. In the past I have had to slightly change things because I didn’t feel comfortable trying to manipulate the pose without a reference. So I’ve been trying to take more risks and just try it when I don’t have the greatest references. I have improved, but not as much as I’d like quite yet. That is one goal of mine.
5. What is your favorite medium to use and why is it your favorite?
Definitely watercolors! I just fell in love with them when I first tried them. There is so much that can be done with them. I love to mix other media with them too (such as gouache, colored pencil, acrylic, ink, watercolor pencils). This started off with my laziness and an attempt to speed the process up, but then I just liked the effects that I got from mixed media and began to almost always incorporate it into my art. I think this has sort of helped to define my style.
6. What is your biggest challenge artistically?
My biggest challenge would probably be backgrounds. That seems to be the focus of my frustration at the moment. I find myself being unsatisfied lately with my more simple backgrounds. I want to do something “bigger.” I want to create a whole scene, where the background is just as much of a focus or maybe more so than the main figure(s). So far, I haven’t quite achieved this to my liking. But it is definitely something that I plan to work harder on in the future. Not that I’m going to stop doing my portraits or anything. There are times when I’m not in the mood for something more complicated. I just want to work on becoming better at creating more extensive, realistic backgrounds. My painting “Demon’s Fire” is a good example of one of my attempts of this.
7. Do you participate in art shows or conventions or do you show your art in any other venue?
So far, no, I haven’t shown my art at any conventions or shows. This is something that I would definitely like to do eventually. The internet has really been my only exposure up to this point. Hopefully that will change.
8. I’m sure you have a busy life. How do ensure that you have time to work on art?
It can be hard to make time for it especially when I have classes and studying to do. Sometimes, I’m bad and choose to do art when I should be studying. Lol! When I’m busy, I tend to do a lot of my painting or drawing at night. I’m always up late anyway, so it is really the perfect time for me. For some reason, I just can’t make myself go to sleep early, even if I have to get up early in the morning. I just don’t get much sleep those days. I’ve always been like that.
9. The characters you paint are very realistic and life-like. How do you achieve that? Any tips you can give?
To achieve the amount of realism that I can do now, took a lot of practice. I few years ago, during what I call my obsessive year, I was working on art almost constantly, during every free moment I had. I would put out 2-3 paintings every week. I wish I could be so productive now, but I think that all that practice really paid off now. Not everything that I did turned out really great (most of it I can’t even look at now) but I learned a little something with every drawing/painting and improved vastly in that year. I’m not necessarily telling people to be all obsessive like I was, but to draw often. I don’t think that there are really any short cuts to improving. Practice, from my experience, is the best way to go. Also for realism, I would suggest using references, or if you’re lucky enough to get one, a model. This helps so much in getting proportions right and to have natural looking poses. Also keeping lighting and shadows consistent is important. And to bring more of the features and muscles out with shading as opposed to using lines. If that makes sense.
10. Out of all of your art, do you have a favorite piece? If so, why is it your favorite?
That’s a hard choice… “Enchanted Melodies: Violin” is one of my absolute favorites. It is one of those painting that I look at now, even though I did it a couple of years ago, and I am still am amazed that it turned out so well. The details, the colors, the pose, that darn violin (hours of frustration!), it was all just how I wanted it. It is a rare thing for me to be satisfied with almost everything in a piece. That was intended to be a series, and I have yet to get around to doing the other two gypsies. I still want to, but I wonder if I can get them to compare to that one in my mind. It will be a challenge. A close second is “Dark Angel 2.” Aside from the technical side of it, I can relate to certain aspects of the painting. I didn’t paint it thinking of myself in particular. I just have felt like that angel at times before, as I’m sure everyone has. Where you feel very much isolated. But for me there is also always a brighter side that is never too far out of sight.
11. Do you accept commission work or do you create art solely on what you want to do?
I accept commissions if I find the idea presented to me particularly inspiring or if I think that I can do it justice. But if I just can’t see it or I don’t think that I’m the right artist for it then I’ll have to turn it down. So far my art has been mostly been my own ideas except for a few I’ve done for family or friends.
12. It is said that there is a little of the artist in all of their creations. What part of you is reflected in your art?
Probably a little bit of mystery. I am a pretty private person, and have a tendency to keep a lot of things to myself especially if I don’t really know a person well. Besides that, maybe a bit of mischief. 
13. Where do you want to be artistically five years from now?
I would really like to learn more about the business side of things. So far, I’ve really just been focused on growing as an artist that I still have much to learn about the other side making a living off of art, which, of course, is my ultimate goal/dream. First of all I would like to have my own website. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of years. I would also like to explore some other media such as digital. I have tried it before but I would really like to experiment in it some more. And improving on backgrounds as mentioned earlier. I have so many things that I still want to learn and grow in.
email: Elvenstar83@hotmail.com
DeviantArt:
http://elvenstar83.deviantart.com/
Elfwood:
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/b/e/beckysinz/beckysinz.html
ArtWanted:
http://www.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?ArtID=13063&SetBG=Yes
Epilogue:
http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/list.pl?gallery=8707
