ABOUT: Lissa Corinne Art

Lissa Corinne's art isn't just a hot topic, is also so well illustrated. The use of shadings and everything being in perfect proportions, plus the realism, and that on those tiny USPS labels makes her on of my favorite artists. If I would have to describe her style, I would place it into cartoon/realism. I have been following her for a while now, it was time to hear her story.

Let's start off with a beer. What beer would you say is your favorite?
I think I've only ever had a beer like twice, in highschool, and it was rough. It's not for me. I'm not good with alcohol in general.

Where did your journey in art began?
I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon, really. I always had stacks of coloring books and those cute little art sets that come in a case with a handle. When I was a little older I started filling up all my lined notebooks and stealing all my dad's printer paper. I never left the house without something to draw with, and my Gameboy. I chose arts and crafts over recess every time.

How did you end up in the stickerscene ?
It was random. At the end of 2017 I was at the post office, seen the stack of 228s as I was leaving, and I thought ‘hmm, maybe I could draw in the white space and make some homemade stickers’, because I couldn't justify the cost of ordering vinyls or anything back then. So I took some home, realized the white space wasn't big enough to do anything, so I drew over the whole thing, stuck it in my sketchbook and decided to revisit the idea again later. I didn't grow up in a nice area at all. There was some graffiti, bad words scribbled over everything at the park, but I had never seen a usps label stuck up anywhere, or stickers out on the street, I hadn't done much traveling. I didn't know that it was even a thing. One day this guy that I had just started seeing came to my house and he saw the couple 228 drawings in my sketchbook and he was like I didn't know you were into this kinda thing? I had no idea what he was talking about. He started telling me how he used to have a character and talk to a lot of people in the community back when everyone was on YouTube or something? He had a shoebox in his closet full of paint markers and a couple bricks of older 228s. I kept drawing on them, because I was used to bigger paper drawings and I wanted to practice smaller faces, and when I started posting them to Instagram, the community found me. I thought Instagram art communities were really shit before that, it blew my mind how cool and encouraging everyone was.

What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you develop your artistic skills?
Art kind of runs in the family, I guess. When I was a kid, my mom used to have this binder full of her old drawings that I would look through repeatedly. Flowers, dragons, etc. They were really good. My mom and my uncle both had huge, framed original pieces hanging up at my grandparents house. My dad used to sketch a lot too, skulls and things. My cousin, my grandpa. I was already interested in drawing on my own, so seeing how talented the rest of my family was just made me want to practice. Luckily, I grew up in a household where my creativity was encouraged. I think in the fourth grade I discovered a section of ‘how to draw’ books at the library and that was huge. In middle school I drew constantly, but those sketchbooks were almost entirely fueled by depression. In highschool I took every art class, from drawing, to pottery, to photography.

If you would have to describe your artistic style, what would you say?
Is cartoon realism a thing? 

What attracted you to create illustrations in your chosen genre?
I did a lot of realistic portraits with pencil or colored pencils before I started drawing on stickers and switched to mostly marker. I try to color as realistically as I can, but I think my own style of drawing makes it look somewhat cartoony or comicy when I outline. Mostly in the face. Not what I was originally going for, but I've come to like it.

Can you share some of your favorite or most significant artistic projects or pieces you've created?
My favorite pieces tend to be the bigger ones, where I can fit more detail, like street signs or giant 228 replicas. They're automatically more fun to create too, because it's something different then what I do the majority of the time.

What brands and tools do you use for your artwork and what do you recommend?Well, when I draw, I use a mixture of marker and colored pencil. I'm not picky about brands, for the most part. I use any cheap(ish) alcohol marker I can find, but they HAVE to have a brush tip. Good luck blending markers that only have a chisel tip and a fine tip. For now I mostly use Artist’s loft (Michaels brand), which I only buy when they have a decent sale. As for colored pencils, I use Prismacolor, the same set I've had for 10+ years. But nowadays there are a ton of good dupes that are much more affordable, check Amazon. In order to blend properly, you need colored pencils with soft lead, so brands like Crayola just won't work. 

What do you like the most about what you do ?
Connecting with other people in the community. Trading, and collabing with street artists from all over the place. Seeing my silly little stickers stuck up around the world. It's just fun.

Are there any artist you look up to now or in your earlier stage as an artist?
I guess I can just look around my living room to answer that. Relmartist, Justin O’Neal. Most of my favorites now are people in the street/sticker community though. Decoy, Outnumbered, Vlot, there are so many. But these are the ones who are probably the most recognizable names in my house. Lol I hope they never see this.

Everyone has their way of working. How do you approach the creative process, from conceptualization to completion?
I don't work on my pieces for extended amounts of time or anything, and since I already have all my supplies on hand, there's usually no real planning. I can pretty much come up with an idea or get inspired by a photo and start right away. That's something I really like about drawing on a smaller canvas, like a 228. For bigger projects I tend to sketch onto a transfer sheet first, sometimes I draw digitally first, to play around with color ideas or background.

How do you stay motivated and overcome creative blocks or challenges in your work?
There's almost never a day that passes where I don't draw, or think about drawing. I don't get tired of it, I can't explain why. I know it's not like that for everyone. The thing I get burnt out on most is working with the same few sets of colors day in and day out. For me, since I mostly draw nude babes, that's skin tones. When I really need a break from that, I just switch it up by drawing a babe with colorful skin, a demon or an alien or something. Otherwise I do collabs and stuff with my character (who i purposely left paper white, so I would never get tired of drawing her).

Recently, I've been experimenting with bigger pieces, and different canvases, drawing my own character more.

Not every art, is for everyone. How do you handle critiques or feedback on your work, both positive and negative?
So far I've been lucky enough not to get too much negativity. My stuff isn't for a lot of people, due to the graphic nature (perfectly understandable). That's part of the reason why I made a separate account that focuses on my character. If someone doesn't like nude art then hopefully they would just block and move on, especially now that I'm censoring everything, and have my profile set to 18+. If someone does say something then I guess I'll just have to approach it case by case, it really depends on if it's constructive and I can use it as an opportunity for growth, or if the person is just being an ass.

The most thing I like to see in an artist is progress. What are your long-term artistic goals, and where do you see your art career heading in the future?
Recently, I've been experimenting with bigger pieces, and different canvases, drawing my own character more. I'd like to do some even larger, more detailed pieces. Hopefully do more shows. I don't live in a big city, and where I'm from street art is barely a thing, so for now I can only send in pieces through the mail, unfortunately. Further down the line I'd like to get into spray painting.

Some artists feel they have a deeper meaning regarding their artwork. Does your art have a deeper meaning to you?
It would be easy to say something about female empowerment, body or sex positivity here, but honestly, for me, I just like drawing what I like. If anyone looking interprets something more meaningful from anything I draw then that's amazing. 

Do you have anything else you would like to share with the world?
I get asked so often if I use reference photos when I draw. The answer is and will always be YES. For some reason there's a huge stigma around using reference from so many art elitists out there, that now people feel ashamed about it. There are different levels of referencing and none of them are inherently bad. Sometimes I draw a photo as exact as I can, sometimes I only need to look up a hand position or different poses. Looking at the human body while you draw the human body will only make you better at it over time. It has helped me improve immensely. Don't let anyone shame you for trying to get better at drawing. 

Art doesn't have to be expensive, use what you have access to and keep creating!