Chances are, if you’re a gamer who also appreciates things that are great, you’ve heard of Alexandria Neonakis. Last Valentine’s Day, her videogame-themed Valentines made their rounds on the internet, and her work became a mini underground sensation. Piquing my own interest, I decided to check  out what other art she had on her website, http://www.beavotron.com. If you’ve ever wondered what a red panda would look like dressed as Marlon Brando, or needed an even more stylized version of your favorite Team Fortress 2 characters, Beavotron is the place start. I had the chance to talk with artist extraordinaire Alexandria about her work, and hopefully what she had to say will motivate other aspiring artists to keep doing what they love.

Where did you get your start?

I started seriously dedicating time to drawing when I was 13 years old. It was really more of a hobby back then, but it occupied all of my spare time. I started out drawing lots of dragons. Actually, I recently redrew my very first digital art. It’s this really weird, creepy looking yellow dragon, affectionately stroking the side of a rock.  I was really into cyber pets back then too. I don’t know if anyone remembers this, but you could find these sites on the internet where you could download adoptable animated gifs to put on your own websites. I had millions of these things on a website that has long since fallen into the darkest pits of the internet called “Alex’s animals”

Have people been supportive of the path you’ve taken?

Yes I have a great family. At first I think my dad was a bit disheartened. I wasn’t originally going to go into art as a career, I took 4 years of Neuroscience and Biology (I couldn’t make up my mind) at a local university. I think parents always want what’s best for you, and the hard truth is the earning potential of an artist is much lower than that of a neuroscientist or doctor. Like I said though, I have a great family. My dad always says “do what makes you happy” and I did, and he respects that and supports me 100%. My mom is my biggest fan, she has supported whatever I wanted to do since day one. I hear from a lot of young artists that their parents aren’t being supportive of their decision to follow the art career path. My advice is, you have to do what’s best for you in the end, and sometimes you just have to show them that you’re serious about it. Do your research and have an adult conversation with them about it (don’t whine) and they’ll be more likely to accept that you’ve really put some thought into this and aren’t just doing it because you like to draw glittery vampires in your spare time.

What are your influences?

So many. Mary Blair is probably the biggest. Charley Harper is up there as well. Really, all art from the 1930s-1950s, particularly commercial art. It’s just so… amazing! They did everything by hand. These gorgeous, clean, crisp gouache paintings. They didn’t have the comfort of the undo button back then, or layers. Advertising from that time had such style and was so masterfully created. I get a lot of inspiration just looking through old illustrator’s work. Elliott Erwitt too. He’s actually a photographer, but he has a great sense of humor, and I find it inspiring to look at his work. Just browsing through deviantart too (Alex’s own DA page : http://beavotron.deviantart.com ). It gets a lot of hate, but I love that site, I’ve found some amazing artists on there, amateur and professional alike.

What is your favourite subject to draw?

Red pandas! They are so cute. I could spend hours on youtube watching red pandas roll around and play. How can something that cute even exist? It boggles my mind. Animals in general really, I’m a big animal person.

Do you prefer digital or traditional painting?

Digital because I’m better at it, but I enjoy looking at traditional work more. I am in art school now trying to learn more about traditional methods.

What do you like to do outside of art?

Video games, reading, going out to see the sun every now and again (ha ha ha). My life has a bit too much art in it right now I think. I’m in art school, and working as fulltime as I can as a freelancer, so it’s just like draw draw draw… sleep….draw draw draw. I spend way too much time on youtube.

What videogames are your favourite, and what are you playing now?

I hate to say this, but WoW is probably my favorite game. And it’s the main one I’m playing now because of my schedule, but I rarely play it at all anymore. I don’t even know why I hate to say that WoW’s my favorite. I feel like it’s a huge time sink, but… well, I’ve been going back to it for pushing 4 years now, so it’s clearly got some magic power over me. I still play L4D, I’m looking forward to L4D2. I have the demo, so awesome. I have also taken to playing lots more DS games, currently the newest Professor Layton and Scribblenauts. Scribblenauts is an incredible game, I have tried so many things and they all exist. My favorites are black hole and jet pack. Oh, and bean… because it doesn’t do anything, it’s just a bean. I play lots of iPhone games too before I go to bed, I love those brain testing ones, like Brain Age, they make me feel like I’m doing something productive even though I’m not. Oh and TapWord, I like that one too.

Arts and gaming are typically male-driven careers — what is it like for you working in those fields?

I think that I’ve just had a weird experience in my career because all the companies I’ve worked for, be it in studio or freelancing, have lots of ladies working there! In all fields, programming, art, production, everywhere! I think that it’s definitely changing with more girls coming in, and I like that a lot. But you’re right — it is typically seen as a bit more male-oriented than female. I went to PAX this year, and the girl-to-boy ratio was pretty funny, though it also wasn’t quite what I was expecting! There were more girls there than I expected there to be, and apparently more girls this year than in past years. I was always a bit of a tomboy, so I tended to get along better with more guys than girls. I found that in the studio I worked in, I just sort of fit in with the guys, and they just treated me like one of them, a giant sloppy nerd who likes watching youtube videos and shooting zombies.

Where do you hope to go in the future?

There are so many things I want to do and I change my mind daily. I’d love to work full time for Valve software someday but I’ve got such a long ways to go before I’m at that level. Their concept artists are mind-blowingly good. But I’m in school now learning my face off, so hopefully someday! I also really like doing work for kids. I’m working on an educational game right now for children and I find that really rewarding.

What advice could you give to someone interested in following your path?

Don’t give up! Draw as much as you can, don’t let people tell you what you can and can’t do. I had someone tell me once I’d never be good enough to make art my career. It only made me push that much harder, so I should really go find her and thank her for that. Art school’s awesome, I love it, but you don’t need it. I got lots of jobs prior to starting school, I only started this year. So, if you’re worried that you can’t afford the big overpriced schools in the states, head on over to conceptart.org and start learning from the people over there. I got all of my art education from the internet for free till this year. Get your name out there, get on deviantart, make an account, talk to other artists, network. Show your work to people, make a website, set up a portfolio, email potential clients. Don’t buy “How to Draw Manga” or “How to Draw Super Heroes”  or any of those garbage books because they’re useless and a waste of your money. If you want a good book on learning to draw, pick up “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. Drawing cartoons and anime and stuff comes naturally once you start to learn how to draw what you see.

It’s hard work, but it’s so, so worth it