Robin Lakowitz is a digital artists from Germany. At the age of 15, he creates some great photo manipulations and digital art using Photoshop. Read this interview and find out where Robin gets his inspirations and motivation.

Hello Robin, we’d like to know more about you. Can you introduce yourself?

Hello. My name is Robin Lakowitz and at first I want to thank you for asking me to be a part of an interview on your great website. So, I am 15 years old and I live in Bochum, Germany. At the moment I am going in the 11^th class to make my A Level in the next years . For 4 ½ years I work with Photoshop, certainly with large breaks. Also 3 of them were just like, “Wow – I can use a brush!” and stuff. But for 1 ½ year I started to create Artworks – primarily Photomanipulations. In the past years I started to publish my work on Deviantart/Shadowness/Behance and lots of forums – and now I am also on YouTube to share my work. Because of my age I know I have enough time to learn new things and I want to. Also I am happy to say, that because of the feedback I get – like your invite to this interview – my motivation gets higher and higher, so I am able to keep up my work and share it with you!

15 years old and you have already accomplished much. How did you discover your passion for digital art/graphic design?

It all began really slowly. I was active on gaming-forums when I was 11-12 years old, there I've seen lots of cool pictures under the posts by other users. Then I found out that these were called Signatures! (Wow... haha) And I wanted to have some cool signatures like the others. So I started to play around in Photoshop – and it made lots of fun – but the outcomes... I'm glad that I don't know where they are now. This is how it began. Photoshop became more and more a new hobby to me. After some months I became better and better in signatures and I discovered Deviantart. There I've seen that there were lots of large signatures... something new.. I thought: “Haha, they're too large for a signature, how silly” - but then I noticed that these were called Artworks! (I have to admit: This was a special moment for me). After a while, I think I was 14 years old [by then] already, I created my first Wallpaper - you can find it on my Deviantart-Page (Chong Tese Wallpaper, an ex-player from my favourite soccer team VfL Bochum). And this was the beginning of lots of wallpapers, artworks, photomanipulations and so on. I wonder what would be if I never discovered these mysterious pictures under the posts of other people (Annotation: Signatures, I mean Signatures..)

You have a great array of work in your portfolio. What usually inspires you to create?

Most of my inspiration I get from music and movies. I watch lots of TV and I hear lots of music – both together create a perfect mixture. The idea for works like Apocalypse or The Aftermath for example came by movies like “2012” , “I am Legend” , “The Day after Tomorrow”. But also my early Childhood is a big inspiration to me, my upcoming work called “The Journey” is the best example for it. My girlfriend has also been a big inspiration to me in the last months – some of her ideas were awesome! :)

Is there any artist that you look up to and inspires you?

Not directly. I appreciate lots of Graphic Designers, but I don't really look up to somebody or gain inspiration from them. That doesn't mean, that they're not worth it – quite the opposite – I just want to make my works unique. I try to get no inspiration from others, so I am not going to make similar works like another one or even copying other styles. But I think Martin Grohs deserves a mention – he is a great artist with a great style. I think I do not overstate when I say, that he is the best Graphic Designer in Germany. No one is as creative as him – in my opinion.

Do you have a specific style that you stick to?

At the moment I prefer to create surreal photomanipulations, but I don't really stick to one style. I want to be as various as I can. As you see in my Gallery I am changing the style of my works often, sometimes I think, “What about a colorful Artwork full of effects ?”, and sometimes: “What about a photomanipulation with a profound concept?” It's all situation-dependent.

“Apocalypse” is an eye-catching piece. What is the story behind this work?

Well, I remember the time of creating this work. It was 2011, a few weeks before Easter and I wanted to create an Artwork with a big monster crashing into a city. Inspired by a mixture of the movies “Avatar” and “2012”. Yes – a monster crashing in a city – now you probably think: “We asked about Apocalypse...” But it's true, Apocalypse was not planned like you know it now. Only when I noticed that the monster crashing in the city will look awful, I've seen what the picture looks like without a monster. And I started to go on. The picture was the hardest I've ever made till then. I spend a lot of time on it, not like my other works before, I waited 2 weeks till it was finished – perfectly for the Easter days I was able to publish it.

What materials/medium do you most enjoy working with?

This question is easy: Because I just work with my computer and Photoshop, I enjoy work with them the most.

I liked what you did with “The Aftermath”. How did you create this scene?

Haha. It's not a long time ago since it was created. At first: This work was created with GIMP. Why GIMP? In school (Computer Science) we worked with GIMP. And we got some lessons to play around with it. So, I just wanted my friends how I do my work. First I searched for a street, I wanted to create an apocalyptic-scene again – so I searched for grass and vines etc. All these things I blended together in 4 lessons I think. At home I just played around with the colors of the picture to make it better. If you are interested how I've done it – visit my youtube-channel and watch the progression of “The Aftermath”.

What keeps you busy now? Do you have new projects that the readers should look out for from you?

Yes, for sure. Because I want to fill my YouTube-channel with new speedarts, I am really busy with new works. Also I am entering lots of contests at the moment to increase my exposure. But beside all this YouTube-stuff my Deviantart, Shadowness and Behance Gallery will be updated with all new works and informations, too. Look up to my upcoming work “The Journey” - check it out on 7/2/2012: Inclusive speedart-video on YouTube!

Lastly, any message for our readers?

To all people who are already creating artworks, photomanipulations etc. or want to start creating them: Never give up! For sure, you will see work that are better than yours. For sure you will have no motivation to keep up your work. For sure someone will criticize you – but don't get down because of this! Keep up your work, keep getting better, gain inspiration, enjoy working on new works – never forget that the most important thing is, that you have fun while you're working! Everyone starts as a nobody, everyone. But everyone who don't gives up will grow up as a well-known Artist. Just work hard for it! Also I want to thank you for reading, I want to excuse some grammar-mistakes – I tried my best. And also I want to thank you again for asking me for this interview. This really means a lot to me. I would appreciate it if you take a short look at my Deviantart, Shadowness, Behance and YouTube-Channel!

More about Robin Lakowitz

https://www.youtube.com/LakoDesigns
https://www.behance.net/LakoDesigns
https://lakodesigns.deviantart.com
https://www.shadowness.com/lakodesigns