Sci-Fi Art Now Creator Interview: Yigit Koroglu

Aircraft by Yigit Koroglu. More info here

The format of SciFi Art Now - out this October - is such that it promotes the art of the creators, but there's not much room to tell you more about them and their work. We're publishing interviews with creators here to redress the balance.

Yigit Koroglu, who hails from Turkey, has been working as a freelance illustrator for almost two years. His work so far includes paintings for a card collection, art for a Massively Multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which is currently under development, and various commissions.


SciFi Art Now: What tools do you mainly use to create your art?

Yigit: Wacom Intuos4 A6 and Photoshop CS4

SciFi Art Now: Why?

Azazel by Yigit Koroglu

Yigit: Because I love Wacom products due to their durability. The reason for the small size is because in a digital medium I don’t need a lot of area. Large ones do no good other than taking up lots of space on my desk. The reason for using Photoshop is due to its flexibility about what you can do and CS4 works really fast on my PC. I’ve tried CS5 too and they did a good job on implementing realistic brushes, but it still needs a little bit of improvement to be on competitive with Painter’s realistic feel.

SciFi Art Now: What inspired you to become an artist?

Yigit: Probably my father. He's an engineer, but also writes sci-fi stories with a mixture of mythology and a bit of religious things. The result is really satisfying to read and it lets you think twice about the alternative history of humankind which maybe wasn’t told to us. So it's kind of pseudo science.

SciFi Art Now: What was the most useful piece of advice you were given when you began learning your craft?

Yigit: It was from Kerem Beyit, who told me to focus on my art and push my limits and to not care for the money in the first place since it would eventually come - once I could accomplish the quality of my art first. And it worked!

SciFi Art Now: Which artists most inspire you?

Yigit: Kerem Beyit, Todd Lockwood and Luis Royo. Although they're mostly known for their fantasy art, their style and mastery at it is a true inspiration for every artist.

There are also a number of really talented artists that I discover every day on art web sites. It would take pages if i would try to list them all.

Taming a Dragon by Yigit Koroglu

SciFi Art Now: What is the appeal to you of science fiction as an inspiration for some of your work?

Yigit: Its unlimited power of imagination.You can go as far as your imagination lets you. And the potential realism of it all appeals to me - perhaps one of the kids who is watching a sci-fi movie will be so inspired by it that one day he will invent next-gen spaceships or maybe robots like that in Transformers, who knows? You may laugh at this but all those engineers and scientists have an inspiration that was the spark of their inventions.

Just think about Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon -- who knows if that story wasn’t the reason for someone designing a spaceship?

SciFi Art Now: Do you have a favourite piece of work or project you have worked on?

Yigit: Yes, but they're my personal paintings. (Art here - warning! mature content!). I'm inspired by Giger in this piece. I adore the contrast between machinery and human but only in art... And I’m very afraid that that is where we are headed.

SciFi Art Now: In your career, have you had any bizarre experiences while creating your art?

Yigit: No. Well, actually I think not having any problems as an artist sounds more bizarre...

SciFi Art Now: What most frustrates you about being an artist?

Apple by Yigit Koroglu

Yigit: In my country, being an artist is regarded as being unemployed and people pity you. That’s what saddens me the most.

SciFi Art Now: What keeps you going despite the hopefully occasional frustrations?

Yigit: I’m one of those guys who believe everyone has a unique mission in this life and I feel that there will be a time that I will execute this mission. Maybe a kid who will be an important person in the future and he'll remember one of my works when he’s grown up and will be inspired by it and will do something important (be it a movie, a scientific discovery or maybe an artwork). But still, I need to work much more to get to that point. That hope keeps me going.

SciFi Art Now: What advice would you offer to anyone starting out as an artist?

Yigit: Well, my advice is mostly for concept artists.They shouldn’t think the idea of dwarves, elves and orcs are very original and should try to design something new.It’s not only about drawing but about imagining the unknown.

For more of Yigit's work check out his web site at: http://yigitkoroglu.deviantart.com and www.yigitkoroglu.com. Contact him via yigitATyigitkoroglu.com