Artist of the month: Flo aka naehrstff
Flo is a 31, graphic designer from Rosenheim in Bavaria, Germany.
He has been a graphic designer for 10 years and is the head of the graphic department in a publishing house in Munich for the past 3 years.
He mostly makes his art digitally covering drawings, paintings, and animations. Only switching to wood color pencils and paper for commissions.
I noticed Flo on Twitter, he is very active and his blue girls series caught my eye, so of course, I had to find out more about him.
- Why do you create art?
I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember and have always enjoyed it. In the past together with my mom and dad, my dad was rather pragmatic, my mum decorative. Both are quite reasonable draftsmen, that must also be said. Towards the end of my compulsory schooling, I had drawing lessons with two local artists and then went to a design school.
Why I create art in the meantime depends entirely on the mood I am in. Sometimes I need a break from my everyday life and I find drawing almost meditative. Sometimes a thought inspires me and I want to express it with a picture, and sometimes it is simply because I see something that I find beautiful and want to recreate for myself in a certain way.
Even though I create digitally, I always try to keep the flair and dynamic of an analog pencil stroke in my digital works. Because pencil or pen sketches are my favorite type of art. Very simple tools, with huge emotions!
It is absolutely wonderful for me to see the smiles on people’s faces when I draw their portraits and show them their own beauty. It gives me immense pleasure to see them happy through a gesture so simple and small for me.
2. Your Blu Girls series really caught my eye, what inspired you to create them?
I’m very happy that you like the Blu Girls so much. I like rough and sweeping sketches a lot and I have always been fascinated by how some artists manage to convey feelings, moods, and energy with just a few strokes, for which others need entire paintings. (Nothing against paintings!) That’s exactly what I wanted to create too.
A big role model is here Alvin Chong for me. I do all this on my iPad, but when I was drawing with paper and pencil or ballpoint pen, I also wanted to show that it doesn’t depend on the super expensive paper and a special pen but on the artist. With Blu Girls, I try to keep this traditional analog stroke in the artwork.
3. What is your favorite thing about the NFT art space?
That’s a funny question because I actually got into NFTs when I read how much money is involved here and I couldn’t believe that artists here actually get paid for their work. Previously I have struggled with getting paid for my art, sometimes having to beg for 3 EUR a month on e.g. Patreon. I was also very interested in the idea of digital ownership.
What I like most about the NFT space is absolutely the people. The wonderfully friendly, supportive, and insanely creative artists and collectors here. It knocks my socks off every day. I’ve met the best and most amazing people I know here in the 2 months I’ve been here now.
4. Some of your artwork has glitches, how do you create them?
Haha yes, I love glitches. I especially love good glitches, which is also a contradiction in terms. But they are actually very easy to create via the effect in Procreate. I adjust them and layer them until I like them.
5. What movie/book/tv show would you recommend?
I actually like to read a lot. Completely across the board. From astrophysics to fantasy and science fiction to classics.
But since I recently discovered Arcane the series, I’d like to recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. For me, it is the next level in every respect. Be it the story, imagery, or narration. Everything is just wonderfully done. But especially, of course, the imagery. I’m also an absolute sucker for graphics in games and movies and what is delivered visually in Arcane is simply out of this world for me.
Check out some of Flo’s work here:
