Given the chance, Bored Panda reached out to John Euclid Templonuevo once more to find out more about the artist and what he is up to.
Templonuevo described his method of character creation, saying, "When I draw a character, I use those two as a reference for the face and body. For facial features, I use Rick and Morty but without a nose. For the body, I like the liquid type body of the characters in adventure time (like they don't have a joint) so mostly the body I make when creating a character is based on that. Then after some time, I didn't notice that I already had my own art style. It's amazing how everyone can recognize my art, like whenever they see it, they know that I did it." He noted that this approach led to the development of his distinctive art style.
Discussing his efficiency in art creation, he stated, "Whenever I draw, I seldom do sketches (like most artists do). When you get used to drawing and you memorize all the different positions and perspectives of a character, sketching can be time-consuming so I don't do it. So as an artist, I practice without sketching so that I can be more efficient when it comes to drawing. But I admit, I still do sketches, especially for commissioned drawings and all other important projects. My point is, if you want to be efficient, you train yourself to be one and there's no specific strategy to it."
Templonuevo explained his criteria for selecting personal experiences to illustrate: "I have a purpose and all my choices should align with that. My purpose for drawing stuff is to bring inspiration, encouragement, and fun to others and any illustrations not related to that, I don't share it. For example, I want to share my experience of being stressed at work in an illustration and somehow there's another person out there who shares the same experiences as me, then unconsciously, I bring encouragement to them by simply telling them that yeah, they are not alone and I am not alone in those struggles both of us can you know make fun of it. So any experiences and ideas that are aligned to my goals and purpose, I illustrate it."
On the topic of criticism, Templonuevo expressed, "Well, it's part of being an artist. You cannot call yourself an artist if you don't want to receive any criticism and opinions from your work. I believe art is subjective and I understand that not all people will agree or have the same thoughts about my art and I think that's okay. After all, no one can explain it better an art aside from the who made it, the artist. Nope, it doesn't have that much effect on me, but there are criticisms that are actually reasonable and there are comments that you can actually agree with. All criticisms are actually helpful as long as it is not a personal attack to the artist, like degrading them or telling them that they have no talent whatsoever or saying something below the belt and that is not criticism anymore but an insult."
John also offered insights into his methods for productivity, saying, "You start no matter what. I struggled with this before and I realize that there is no better way or technique to battle procrastination than starting to work. I also realized that the best way to motivate yourself to start is to have a clear goal. Once you have a goal, your feelings will not matter because your mind will push your body to achieve that goal. Once my body is doing productive stuff the next thing I learned is to rest in order to battle burnout. I do weekly planning and scheduling and I see to it that my to-do lists every day are realistic, something that I can actually do for the day. I take two rest days in order for me to replenish any ideas and thoughts, in that way, I can prevent an art block. "
Finally, on the subject of traditional art forms, he revealed, "Right now, I'm doing mostly digital illustrations and I am not closing my door to creating traditional art again. But I'm a little bit rusty when it comes to traditional drawing so I think I need to practice first, but maybe next year, I'll be selling traditional drawings as a collection."
