Name: Bruno Alexander aka BreX
Location: São Luís, Brazil
Facebook: www.facebook.com/brex5
Behance: Behance.net/brex5
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brex_art
DeviantArt: http://brex5.deviantart.com/
BreX, artist from Brazil, has recently gained praise after sharing his custom Pokemon Trainer & Leaders designs on Reddit and has since booked a full schedule with commissioned projects. BreX sat down with GWW to discuss his inspirations, his love for music and Pokémon.
How long have you been an artist and how did you get into drawing and digital art?
BreX: Hmm, I guess I started playing with art when I was really young, around 9 or 10 years old! I liked drawing things like Pokémon, Digimon and DragonBall characters by watching them on TV or the computer and trying to recreate them on paper.
When I first started playing online games, specially Grand Chase (RIP), I began to participate in online forums about the games and was always fascinated by the “Fan Art” areas of it. Every time a new class or character was released I tried to draw something related to it. After some months I started digging into digital art tutorials so I could finish my drawings on the computer but I had a hard time back then because I didn’t have a drawing tablet and had to finish my art with a mouse haha. One of my first digital drawings was made to enter a competition in the Grand Chase Loading Screen Contest and I don’t know how but I managed to win with this piece. Since then I’ve been practicing more and now with a proper tablet!
What are some of your hobbies outside of Graphic Design and art?
I love listening to music (pop and indie most of the time), watching TV series and spending time with my friends and cats. Oh, and playing games a lot. Hahaha.
Your work has really been praised throughout the Pokemon Subreddit, how exciting is it to see your work really take off within the online community?
It’s amazing! I’m really new to the Reddit ways of posting and searching for content related so I posted my Pop GYM Leaders in the Pokemon subreddit to see what people would think about this whole idea of mixing Pokémon and famous singers. I didn’t know it was going to be so popular! People have been really kind and supportive and, actually, my first commission requests came from there! Thank you, Pokémon subreddit users, you’re the best!
What gave you the idea of creating custom Pop Pokemon Leaders (Beyonce, Rihanna, Adele, Sia)?
I first had a project called “Sia – 1000 forms of Pokémon” where I put together Maddie Ziegler (the dancer in Sia’s “Chandelier”,” Elastic Heart”, “Big Girls Cry” and most recently “Cheap Thrills” videos) and Pokémon to illustrate the tracks of her previous album “1000 forms of fear”. Sia has become one of my favorite singers of all time and I thought it would be a good idea to create art related to her (specially because there’s a pokémon called Chandelure that would be perfect for the first track. Surprisingly, I didn’t find anything related to this idea on my art networks so I had to do it!
After really well received response to this theme I thought, “Why not make her and other artists into GYM Leaders? They’re strong, they have personality and people would love to see their music stars like they were part of the game!”. And it worked!
I’m curious, what do you think Beyoncé’s Pokémon team would be?
Hmm, I haven’t thought about their full teams yet but since Beyoncé is supposed to be a Fighting type leader, at least in my mind, (you know, because she’s strong and fights for feminism and equality) she would definitely have a Lopunny that would Mega Evolve in battle through her Mega Ring. (Finally someone put one on her hand!).
Any plans to recreate more musicians as Pokemon Masters? (If you are taking suggestions, I would love to see maybe Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, or OutKast as Masters)
Yes! People have been really excited about them and so have I! They spam my Instagram and Facebook pages with their suggestions and I love all of them. I’m actually thinking of doing a scheme based on the Heart Gold/Soul Silver games, where there were 16 instead of 8 leaders! That way I could represent a lot of artists and make everyone happy. Oh, I also have plans for a possible Elite Four and Champion, but these are a secret!
Who is your favorite Pokemon?
My favorite Pokémon is Swellow. He’s been my favorite since Generation 3. Love his design and colors, even his shiny form is gorgeous.
How long does each project normally take?
I actually do a lot of research for each art. I search and try to sketch cool poses for the trainers and Pokémon and sometimes people tell me how they want to be drawn. It varies a lot. From rough sketches to final touches it takes me around 1 or 2 days. It depends whether or not I like the pose or how hard it is to fit the Pokémon in the scene. Because of that, the sketches and line art take longer. My favorite part is coloring them, seeing them coming to life is amazing 🙂
Who were some of your inspirations growing up in the art world?
My first inspirations were many of the Pokémon, Digimon and Dragonball artists. After that I got really inspired by the artists that used to make the arts for Grand Chase and Ragnarok. Nowadays I really love the arts made by Loish, Artgerm, Sakimi-chan and Gabriel Picolo. Their way of making art is so different and yet so amazing!
Aside commissions, What’s your next project?
I intend to finish my Pop Leaders Project! After that, I don’t know… any creative ideas that come to my mind!
Any advice that you would offer to aspiring artists?
My advice is to keep practicing! After you study and try out stuff your way of seeing the world changes. Sometimes I catch myself looking at someone’s face and imagining how I would draw the lines of his/her lips and nose, for example. Remember that there are LOTS of different styles and just because you can’t be perfect at one of them doesn’t mean that you can’t do art. Practice, experiment and find the style YOU like and that could better represent your ideas.
Commission Inquiries: Email BreX at mr.bruno.alexander@gmail.com
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