About [EN]

Hello!

I'm TheIronbird. I've been formerly known as Lerato, mainly on Deviantart. During my many many years on the internet, I used a few nicknames, such as:

• Maldel
• Zeira Ra
• Red Nanaki
• Sigfried de Draco
• Corven Sparrow 

Those are now in the old caves of the past, as they mostly were used when I created my very first webpages in the extinct Yahoo!Geocities. Ah, good times. Simpler times.

My troubled art path

I started drawing when I was in third grade, when I was about 8 years old. Normally, I had the support of my friends, but my teachers and parents LOATHED my drawings. They used to scold me because my notebooks were filled with drawings, and in their opinion, it was an absolute waste of time.

You have to understand that this happened in the 80's Mexican context; being an artist or having artistic interests was a waste, particularly in the center of the country (the ideas were different in Mexico City, a historically more progressive place). And I lived (still live) in a very conservative state, where if you can't produce (in the traditional way of the word), you're a burden and won't survive in the future.



I was mocked, humillated and scolded by the adults around me, all because of my drawings. It happened in front of my family (uncles, aunts), in front of strangers, in front of my classmates. It hurted a lot, but that didn't stop me.

The fact I never stopped, finally allowed me to get my family and parents to accept, support and even encourage my art. After all these years, however, I understand (though not condone) their attitude now and have forgiven such things already, and they now respect my love for drawing a lot.


Fortunately, the society have changed a lot in three decades, and got more open minded (an the job field got way more diverse), so, even if low profile, I could continue with my passion (drawing). I kept it more as a hobby since I also likes a lot anything related to Communication, so eventually that was my choice as profession.I considered it as an opportunity to learn how to develop my stories better and to communicate in more efective ways. Marketing studies also helped.

However, life dragged me to very different professional paths that were not very related to arts or storytelling. Also, I had to support my family, particularly when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a very important moment in my life that helped me to grow a lot, but took me away from the art for a long time. Despite of this, drawing literally saved myself from madness. Drawing gave me comfort in the darkest times of my life, and allowed me to give a face to the people in my imagination, people that comforted me, that lived amazing adventures and that also cried and suffered, but always had a happy ending.

From drawing a lot before my presence on the Internet, I barely drew stuff that weren't related to my interest (or better said, hyperfixations) and that didn't help me to improve so much. Of course I did, but not very much, particularly with a limited access to digital tools (that have been pretty recent).

Since I didn't have any formal artistic studies (nor related courses), I am a 
a self-taught artist, since my major was Communication & Marketing. Actually, my job is related to the latter.

However, I am now determined to keep drawing, so I can improve (even if slowly) and finish my projects.

Things I love: 

I love animals, especially baby animals. Actually my favorite animals are dogs, cats, dolphins, manatees, and hummingbirds. I also love bugs, especially rhinoceros beetles, ladybugs, butterflies/moths and caterpillars.

I really love babies and interact with them. It is not secret that I would love to have a family and at least two babies so I can smoother them with love. I often take this wish into my art and with my ships (that isn't always very well accepted, but of course, to each his own).

Related to art, I am a sucker of concept art, dystopic worlds, anything related to armors (especially knights) and fantasy/sci fi. No wonder that among my favourite movies you can find some of the most popular trilogies and franchises, many of which I had the luck to enjoy during my childhood (being a 80s kid).

You can see my inspiration list here.

Current obssessions
-SallyFace
-DBS Broly
-Mothzilla
-Diamond Authority
-Joker
-Golbez

Tags
#TheIronbirdArt #TheIronbird #OnMyWayToImprovement

If you want to know something in special about me, you're free to ask away on my CuriousCat!