What's the biggest piece you've ever made?
 
The biggest piece I’ve made was about 30 boards big. I was so tired of it at the end, but the photo came out good so I’m happy I finished it. It is an abandoned house in the forest, a pattern from pixelartist @indieshilov (twitter)

What is your art workspace like?
 
My workspace is a big desk in a small space of our house. I have a big window and some of my beadarts on the walls. I like to keep it neat and pragmatic when I want to be creative, I actually don’t want to be surrounded with too many things instead I keep it more minimalistic

What are the tools of your trade?
 
The tools are Artkals 160-color palette, pegboards, ski waxing iron and a tweezer especially for beading

Can you talk us through your creative process? How do you go about planning and creating a piece?
 
Normally a project takes around 1 week from start to finish. The first thing I do is to figure out what I want to do. I search for patterns, from pixelartists, crossstitches, old gamesprites or I create my own pattern in a program from pictures. When I then start beading I go into this feeling of flow, it is actually quite meditative to bead and it gives me time to think about how I want to photograph the artwork. Sometimes I know exactly up front how and where to take the shot, but sometimes I need to work with the piece and it kind of grows as the piece grows. After the beadwork is done I get to the ironing. I want it totally flat without visible holes and that means the ironing takes some time. I have tried many methods and now I only use a ski waxing iron. The last part is to photograph and after I have found my location I need to find a good solution for how to hang, stand or lean the beadwork, which can be very tricky sometimes. In the picture of the cat you actually see a two-piece beadwork where I hung the two separate pieces on each side of the branch. I love this part of the photoshoot, to find good solutions to let the artwork blend into the surroundings. The photoshoot takes from 5 minutes to 3 hours, the latest one with the golden dancer took 3 hours because I waited for the perfect sunset

What's the most time you've spent on a project?
 
I think some of my bigger projects have taken about 10-12 hours in total, but split over a period of say one or two weeks.
 
What are the most common questions you get asked about your art?
 
Many tell me that they think my pictures and beadwork are full of life and soul, and they wonder how I do that. I guess I just follow my instinct on what I find to be beautiful, important and fun to create. People also ask me about my ironing technique and how I succeed with my ironing. I have found a good quality brand of beads which are easy to work with and iron according to the tejping-method, and only use a ski waxing iron. You need to give yourself time and practice a lot to find the method that suits you the best

Have you had any art-related disasters?
 
Actually no major disasters, but offcourse I have made a lot of mistakes. Just as important for learning as anything.
 
Do you have a dream project you'd love to make, but just can't justify yet?
 
Actually, I am quite happy with how I have found my creativity and how I use it right now. I do what I like and that is good enough for me

What was your most recent project?
 
My latest project was a ballerina dancer. I have this idea of working on themes, where I make four different beadworks that goes together. This was my forth ballerina so now my dancers are complete. The pixelart of this last dancer is made of one of my favourite pixelartists Luis Maldonado @solosalsero and I have had this pattern in my phone for over 2 years and wanted to do it for so long. I think it came out beautifully, in the light of the sunset

What are your favourite experiences you've had as a result of your art?
 
I love that my artwork gives me time to go out in our nature, I have seen so many beautiful sites. It is very relaxing to spend time outdoors. I also find beading to be very meditative, I go into this sensation of flow after a while and then I sit for hours at my desk.
One of my favourite moment is when I take shot after shot after shot, and then suddenly I just feel that I just took the perfect one.
 
Do you have any projects in progress or in the pipeline right now?
 
I always have a new project :)

Do you sell your art? If so, how can people find it?

I don’t sell anything at the moment, but last year I donated a photograph along with the original beadart of my first project (the boy and the bike) to “Musikhjälpen” here in Sweden, where all the collected money went to medical care organizations around the world. I hope to start selling prints of my work in the future.
 
How can people find you online? Drop your social media handles, websites etc...
 
You can find me at my Instagram profile @skapamedparlor

Anything else to share? Shoutouts, words of wisdom etc?

Do more of what makes you happy!

Who are you? Where are you based? 

My name is Nick and I am based out of Montreal Quebec
 
When and why did you first start making your art?  

I first started with my daughters, I had bought them some beads on a whim for Christmas, I then realized I had a ton of fun making them myself. One thing led to another and as I got into looking for more patterns online I found some very intricate projects... the rest is history!
 
What inspires your artwork? 
​
I love making pop art-inspired pieces, 8 bit videogames, skateboarding, 80's movies (especially star wars & the Shining) 

​Do you remember the first piece you made? 

Most likely a princess pattern for my daughters
 
What's the biggest piece you've ever made? 
​
Probably either my "dull boy" jack Nicholson piece or my Han and Leia Gun portraits. I completed a "Lost Boys" piece as well but it was 3 separate portrait panels. 

What is your art workspace like? 
​
My couch in front of the TV. with a lot of cardboard to be able to move pieces on and off the table as needed lol

What are the tools of your trade? 

Perler brand tweezers (a must!!) I also have both a large Cricut as well as a mini Cricut (expensive but also a must!)
Just standard masking tape and patience after that. Oh yeah, I also work exclusively using HAMA brand beads.
 
What's the most time you've spent on a project? 

Probably months, the Jack Nicholson piece required the pattern background to be made on hex boards, (I only own 4 of them) but was determined to complete the project with the pieces I had. Putting them all together was long and tedious work... hahahah
 
Can you talk us through your creative process? How do you go about planning and creating a piece? 
​
I usually either start with an idea or pattern in mind then go from there, it appears all my projects just keep getting bigger and bigger. I also use Beadifier online to help me map and plan out my projects!

What are the most common questions you get asked about your art? 

How much time they took to complete
 
Have you had any art-related disasters? 

I have spilled entire bead trays on 2 occasions (truly brutal) I have 8-10 thousand beads per tray (all different colors) so that is gut-wrenching when it happens. 
I also once sliced off a fingertip trying to cut out a section of beads with a razor (no stitches though)
 
Do you have a dream project you'd love to make, but just can't justify yet? 
​
I am still looking for the next piece of inspiration to "top" my 3 big pieces (Vader helmet, Star wars blasters and Jack Nicholson)

​What was your most recent project? 
​
A Mariah Carey portrait as a commission. 

hat are your favorite experiences you've had as a result of your art? 
​
Meeting new people online, asking other artists for advice, being inspired by the creations of others, collaborating with other artists

Do you have any projects in progress or in the pipeline right now? 

I am doing a surprise Family portrait at the moment (can't say who!) 
I already looking forward to the next BIG project!
 
Do you sell your art? If so, how can people find it? 
​
Yes although I don't mass produce. I love art exchanges with non-bead artists. 
I do take commissions although I would have to be passionate about the subject as I would be staring at it for hours and hours hahaha!

How can people find you online? Drop your social media handles, websites etc... 

Instagram @ is_it_about_beads_tho
That's it! Contact me there, my LinkedIn is for my day job, and my Facebook is all skateboard collecting and what I am cooking for dinner! 

Anything else to share? Shoutouts, words of wisdom etc? 

Please feel free to reach out, I love to collaborate. Please feel free to use any of my designs and improve upon them if you think they could use it! 
(Just tag me in the comments so I can see the results)

Who are you? Where are you based?

I'm Squarepainter and I'm based in Philadelphia.

When and why did you first start making your art?

I've been an artist my whole life and always loved old video games so it was a natural progression to merge the two.

What inspires your artwork?

Nostalgia is at the root of my inspiration. I try to paint those moments from games that we all remember and take us back to a simpler time.

Do you remember the first piece you made?

I do! I painted Mega Man in 6 different poses on bristol board and mounted them on cardboard. I still have it to this day.

What's the biggest piece you've ever made?

I did a huge 48"x36" piece from The Empire Strikes Back in 2015.

What is your art workspace like?

Right now a complete mess haha. I have a small apartment so my game room doubles as my art studio.

What are the tools of your trade?

Acrylic paint, small flat brushes, palette knife, ruler, t square, mechanical pencil

What's the most time you've spent on a project?

Its hard to tell since I spend so much time laying out my pieces in Photoshop first before I even get to the canvas. For just straight up painting a piece definitely the Empire Strikes Back.

Can you talk us through your creative process? How you go about planning and creating a piece?

I'll get an idea for a painting and then start mocking it up in Photoshop to see how big of a canvas I'll need to fit it. From there I box off and grid out the areas where different elements of the piece will be and then paint in the black or whatever dominant dark color there is for the outlines. With the rest of the colors I generally work from dark to light and build up layers of paint.

What are the most common questions you get asked about your art?

Always about how long it takes and the process that goes into.

Have you had any art-related disasters?

Way too many to list haha. If you're one pixel off it can throw your entire design off. I did a huge Maniac Mansion piece back in 2012 when I was still learning and ended up having to repaint literally half of it because I painted a side of the canvas just one pixel higher than the rest.

Do you have a dream project you'd love to make, but just can't justify yet?

I have some layouts that would be around 10 feet high and wide but I dont have the space to work that big. I've been asked if I'd paint a big mural on a building and thats something I'd eventually love to do.

What was your most recent project?

I just finished a 3 canvas set of the items from Mega Man 2 but I'm sure I'll have newer pieces done by the time this interview goes up.

What are your favourite experiences you've had as a result of your art?

Far and away getting involved in the convention scene. I've met some of my best friends from it and so many talented artists.

Do you have any projects in progress or in the pipeline right now?

I'm always working on multiple pieces at a time. Like right now I have a Sonic piece and Shyguy piece on my easel and some commissioned work.

Do you sell your art? If so, how can people find it?

I do! All my work thats currently for sale is at squarepainter.storenvy.com. I also signed to a gallery recently to sell my larger and more complex pieces but thats still in the works.

How can people find you online? Drop your social media handles, websites etc...

I was lucky enough to secure the Squarepainter name on all of my social media but I'm most active on instagram and twitter.

Anything else to share? Shoutouts, words of wisdom etc

A big shoutout to you for doing this interview and continuing to inspire me with all of your own work. Also aside from painting I also play the bass in the band Rex Viper. We currently have 2 songs done and are on the Cinemassacre youtube channel so please go check those out!