Artist Feature: DoriaDis
How long have you done art? What mediums have you tried?
I remember drawing since I was a child, and I used to draw anytime in kindergarten, anywhere, even on my desk ha ha (I always cleaned up before I would have been caught by my teachers).
When I was 12-13, I drew a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog. There was a time where I shipped Shadow and Amy so hard (forgive me, I was a child he he, what was wrong with me…?) and I hid all my drawings from my family, because I was really a shy little girl and I feared that they would mock me about it.
I didn’t have sketchbooks, so I used to draw in my school notebooks. I wanted to learn to draw, so I watched so many Tutorials on Youtube, where I discovered Digital Art.
Many years later, my parents bought me, as a present, my first graphic tablet. I loved it, and I tried to learn Digital Art. It was really hard and I struggled a lot, but then I discovered animation, and how vast and fun it was.
My first animation was a transformation of my fictional character of “Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir” and I named her “Purple Fangs” ( I know, cringe-y ha ha ha ).
How would you describe your style?
Somewhere between cartoonish and realism, but I hope to improve my drawings in something like “Berserk”: well structured body anatomy but cartoonish face.
Right now I'm studying 3D Digital Painting, more specialized versions which can be rendered (I can’t wait to learn it!).
For my animation, I usually like using rotoscoping style: intensive and smooth flow of movements.
Now I’m trying to do something on my own too, like using 3D, modeling my first Hades or my first Persephone, and animating them (that’s a big project, we’ll see in the future; won’t make any promises but that’s what I have in my mind).
Tell us your Lore Olympus story. What got you into Lore Olympus? What made you stay?
I got a recommendation on Youtube about “The Siren’s Lament.” I read it and I loved it so much, but since then Webtoons would advertise “Lore Olympus” to me. I always thought, “I’m not really sure about it, this cover doesn’t inspire me so much, whatever…”
Then in July of 2019 I decided to give it a shot… who would have thought that it would have changed me this much?
I was in my room, reading on my phone, and I had to take out the trash…and I kept reading it while walking, or when I was in the bathroom.
When I finished it (the last episode was 66) I yelled “What? I need more! Why didn’t I read this before? I’m such a dummy!” This comic was like Eros shot one of his arrows in me. I am infatuated with the story, how well-studied all of the characters are.
The cliffhangers are amazing! They’re like a sweet torture, and I have to wait until 3:00 AM here in Italy on Sunday. You can imagine the next day how I would wake up, lol.
If you could body snatch one LO character for a day, who would it be?
There are so many lovely characters, that’s a bit hard to choose. Persephone reflects some parts of my personality: innocent, helpful; but I think I’d like to be Hecate. She is the righteous friend of Hades’ (the way she stepped in when Minthe slapped him, how supportive she is of him), she’s strong, confident, independent.
I would like to be like her, an independent woman, and have a high self-esteem (not too much, or I would be a vain person, lol).
What are the pros and cons of creating NSFW art? How has the fandom received you - any particular positive or negative experiences?
On Pros side, I feel connected with my animation: I just love watching my favorite couple in these intimate moments, it’s amazing, kinda completes me; that’s what everybody is expecting in Lore Olympus, after all.
My heart pounds so much when I see Hades and Persephone in their sexiest moments in these animations, how they hold on to each other, and...yeah you know the rest ha ah ah.
Doing NSFW work can help you to improve the human anatomy, because in animation you have to know the volume of muscles to get a real effect.
On Cons side there isn’t much, maybe for some doing NSFW art can be embarrassing sometimes, but that’s okay. Not everybody is fond of it, not judging at all.
Usually you have to be careful when posting your stuff, or you would get a strike right away from Tumblr, for example.
In 2019, I was thinking for awhile that I’d post some NSFW, but I was scared of how the fandom would react to it, like “ How dare you? You’re not supposed to draw porn about them.” “ That's gross.” “ You’re a sick person!”
I decided to give it a try, I mean if nobody liked it at all, I wouldn’t animate erotic stuff anymore.
Things went so well! Everybody loved them, Rachel too. She was so sweet when she commented on my posts, I didn’t expect that.
I am so infatuated with this fandom, they’re so nice. They encourage me so much. I have known so many people, and I am friends with some of them.
Still, I had some criticism with some people. That’s actually okay, bad criticism will help me to grow, but this event was...intense somehow.
I animated a gif of Hades and Persephone kissing. She was sleeping peacefully, and Hades wanted to give her a sweet kiss, but some people said that it was sexual assault.
I never meant it that way, it was like a blanket consent, since they’re married for thousands of year. I tried to explain it, joking about it, but I didn’t think he/she was really serious.
I got really upset and I decided to remove it, there were on Twitter and on Tumblr sustaining it, and that was eating me.
Well, I wanted to remove it in respect for these people who experienced this kind of abuse, so I changed it.
That wasn't a big deal, because I didn’t do that intentionally, but at least I learn to be more careful next time, lol.
Which Lore Olympus fan art are you most proud of and why?
I am really happy with this fan art. It shows me how much I am improving. I wanted to show Persephone’s beauty in her Evilness. She is a powerful Goddess, very mature, innocent, but revengeful. She has this sadistic smile, watching people get hurt.... gives her pleasure.
This is one of my favorite Fan animation. Hades landing a sweet but warm kiss on his wife’s lips. The way the look so deeply into each other's eyes, how Hades caresses her mouth, before the kiss.
Any advice for someone looking to build their art skills, specifically around animation?
Practice every single day if you can, that’s the main rule for everything.
You’ll get better with time, so don’t give up. Keep going.
Watch Tutorials, as many as you can, you’ll find out so many secrets.
Don’t use only your imagination when you’re animating. Use a reference for movement (record a friend, search a movie...)
If you’re a beginner, don’t immediately start animating body or complex objects. Exercise yourself starting with something simple, like a ball.
Don’t make Art for Likes, make Art for YOU.
If you create the art you want, and you like, that feels most like you. You may or may not get 1,000 likes, but which is more important? Finding your voice and making art you’re sincerely proud of? Or finding a horde of followers who care about your work but you don’t...?
Who did you get on our Hades' dog character quiz? And do you agree?
I am Fudge! Like three times haha :D . Do I smell good now? He’s cute, but we haven’t got any background about him yet, we’ll see.
Ilaria Maria Di Simone is called DoriaDis on social media. She lives in Italy, studying 3D Generalist, and she dreams to become a skilled animator for 2D and 3D. She loves guitar music, cats, video games, anime, manga. You can follow Doria at:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doriadis/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoriaDisArt
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/doriadis
DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/doriadis