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| Exotique 7 by Ballistic Publications |
Keri Ruediger started attending Richland
as a Richland Colleague High School
student in 2006. After she graduated from RCHS in 2008, she continued taking
Multimedia classes to further develop her skills and is now attending
UT-Arlington, working on a BS in Business, emphasis in Marketing.
Keri and Debbie Smith, Multimedia Instructional Associate
and Adjunct Faculty, sat down informally to talk about her recent success -
having three images selected to be printed in the latest edition of Exotique,
number seven. The Exotique books showcase the best CG character artists in the
world and "sets the standard for fantastic, inspirational art".
Note: Please click on the images to see larger versions.
DS: I understand you have had your own business for a while,
even when you were still attending RCHS? Please tell me about it.
KR: I had attending anime conventions before but in 2006
when I was 16 I saw the Artist's Alley at a con and my mom encouraged me to try
it to make extra money. She said she would help me set up and made the initial
start-up investment. She also helped organize the business aspects of the
booth, including how to cost items, tax issues, etc. It's important to have an
outsider's view of what to charge for your art. And it's always good to have
helpful and supportive manual labor (like sisters) while running a booth at a
con.
Taking art classes and being around artists and teachers
telling you your images are good is all good and well but having someone pay
for your art is a new experience all together. It validates all your hard work.
Until then it is just a hobby but now it's a way to actually make a living.
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| Persephone Painter, Photoshop Page 26 |
DS: Why did you choose to get a BS in Business at
UT-Arlington when it is oblivious you are an excellent artist?
KR: The degree I'm working toward will help me with my
business and I found out I really enjoy the marketing aspect of the business,
like knowing who your audience is and provide what they want at a price they
are willing to pay.
DS: What made you decide to submit artwork to Ballistic
Publishing for one of their Exotique volumes?
KR: I was a graphics design major at another university and
I didn't enjoy it because it was not illustration. It was logos, print-making,
vector art, ad campaigns and layout. It was a high-stress major, too. I decided
to change both majors and schools because I was required to live on campus,
which was too expensive, and the school was too far to successfully commute and
still have a budget.
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| Princess Odette Painter, Photoshop Page 170 |
When I left, the teachers told me switching to a business
major would kill my creativity. I said I could be both a business major and an
artist.
Submitting to Ballistic Publishing was a way to validate I
was still an artist.
DS: How did you find about submitting art to Ballistic
Publishing?
KR: I found out about it a few years ago. I already owned a
couple of the books and saw some people I admire on deviantArt (http://www.deviantart.com/)
saying they had been published in Exotique.
I went out to Ballistic's website and since it was free to
submit art for the next book I sent in four images and three were
published.
I would like to thank Tuan Ho my teacher for helping me
select and crop the images I submitted. He was also my art director, giving me
the assignments and correcting different aspects of each image to make them
ready for submission.
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| Queen Bee Painter, Photoshop page 20 |
(Note: Tuan Ho was a Richland Adjunct Faculty for the
Multimedia and Game Departments until he became full-time faculty at
UT-Arlington.)
I'm glad three of my images made it into this book because
it truly validated that I could be an artist and a business major. If the
people who said I couldn't do it asked, I now have physical proof with this
book.
If I had been rejected, I would have been devastated. You
question if this is the right path but then again, everyone progresses at
different speeds and this book is judged by a committee and just because those
judges rejected your piece this year doesn't mean your art will be rejected
next year by a different committee.
Rejection can be good because it makes you strive harder the
next time and work on your art and your craft.
Having a good support system in family, teachers and friends
will get you through the bad times and encourages you to push forward and grow
as an artist. You just got to hold on to them when the rejection wave comes and
hits you, cause it's gonna come and it's gonna hurt.
DS: Thank you for your time, Keri. Hope to see you in the
next book!
KR: Me, too!
Note: You can find Exotique 7 at the Ballistic Publishing website:
http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/exotique_7/
