About the person
behind the art
And I am behind the illustrations that are displayed in this space of the Internet. I am a semi-professional artist with a long history of attempts, failures and successes and have ever been expressing myself through creativity.
For a few years—prompted by studying at an art school—I have been drawing in a more serious fashion to hopefully make other people happy with it as well.
Themes are Nature whatever that entails: Frogs, cats, bugs, landscapes, plants and whatever might exist but is only visible in our minds. And the vast space that surrounds us.
Colours are the base theme of all of my illustrations. I enjoy to challenge myself by using limited colour schemes.
Why this name?
It was inspired by the Ghibli movie »Grave of the Fireflies«, a very amazing movie (not for the faint of heart). Firefly is hotaru 蛍 in Japanese, and I wanted to add a little twist, hence shinda. In sum, it means dying firefly or dead firefly.
Why something so dark?
Because fireflies are fascinating. And their deaths mean that their lights have flared up while they were still alive. I connect fireflies with vibrant colours, a spark in the darkness, a glint of hope before the grimness of our fate. They are also a proof of the beauty of Nature.
But Nature can also be dangerous, cruel and mysterious and this artist name resembles all of this (to me).
On top of that, it works like a first and last name.
Sparks of inspiration
My sources of inspiration are of various origins such as…
- music, i. e. Simon & Garfunkel, David Bowie, Billy Talent, ABBA, Herman's Hermits, Nik Kershaw, GLIM SPANKY, Buddy Holly, Queen; a lot of mid-century music
- frogs, cats, bugs, birds, garden life, sea life, bacteria, blobs, lichen, fungi, fern, moss
- shapes, colour schemes
- space, planets and everything else outside our planet
- media such as comics, classic and contemporary literature and movies, folklore, historical reports, history as such
