School Supertramp with Igor Vitkovskiy

This artwork was produced before the War in Ukraine. My theory is that much of the incorporation of the graphene driven injections with mRNA were studies and perfected at the University of Kiev by and through incentives for the local population to undergo medical experiments for payment. Notice all the eerie "organic" paintings. Looks like Igor may have worked in a Medical Lab or been influenced by those cut away pictures you always see hanging in the exam room of the doctor's office.Show more

"My name is Igor Vitkovskiy, I'm digital and traditional artist based in Ukraine, Kyiv. I worked 4 years as a professional concept artist and illustrator in the game industry. Now I'm focused on personal projects and art. Also I'm author of a lot powerful photoshop brushes and tools for digital artists.
My works was featured in the worlds best digital art artbooks - EXPOSE 10 & russian artbook ARQUTE."

Q. What got you started in the wonderful world of digital art?

A. Oh, this was a long time ago! At school at the age of 8-10 I discovered Microsoft Paint when I got my first PC at age 10-11. I used Paint to create slides for my cartoon that I animated in Microsoft movie maker, also added some music and effects and had a lot of fun :) Text Limit...

I used to paint all my pixel art and sprites inside Photoshop back then, all my paintings was very bad and I didn't really expect that I could be a professional artist one day. I also painted a lot of fan art, sci-fi, my own board game cards and so I had some traditional painting basics before doing digital art. Then I got a Genius Tablet… I think I made like 2-3 artworks and forgot about this horrible tool.

Then I went through 4 years of web & graphic design… I needed money to play WoW on official servers, so I was making banners for adult websites and other small gigs using Photoshop for 1$ - that was a start. Then were collages, matte-paintings and I was finally able to get a Wacom tablet at the age of 18. This is the start of my real digital art path. I think I've tried everything: 3D, animation, VFX, web design, matte, but got only one true love – Digital concept art & illustration.

Q. What is your best advice for young artists looking to build a career doing art?

A. Doing art is simple, doing good art is very hard. Learn your basics & tools as much as you can, try to paint

every piece as best as you can and try to always make any new painting better than the previous. It doesn't matter it's personal art, free work or paid work. You're doing art commissions for 10$? Spend as much effort as if you were getting paid $1000 instead. Never stop growing and you will succeed.

Q. Do you have a ritual or a particular steps you take before you paint to boost your creativity?

A. Mostly – no. For client work it's easy – you have a description – gather some references – thumbnails – done! For personal art I'm working mostly with abstract shapes, just doodling with no idea just waiting to catch something interesting. Laying on a couch in silence helps my brain generate some nice ideas and designs. I just have to make sure not to lose them later when I do art.

Q. Favorite food?

A. Hmm…fried potatoes & vegan salads mostly, pea soup cooked by me & my girl :)

Q. During what time of the day are you the most creative?

A. Mid day from 1 to 6 PM & evening/night from 8 PM to 5 AM.

I've tried all sleeping modes, from waking up in the evening at 6-8 PM and going to sleep in the morning at 10-11 am (most horrible and depressive of life ever) to waking up early in the morning at 5-6 AM (you feel really fresh, but very lazy most of the day, and not very productive) and going to sleep at night at around 9-11 PM.

My most comfortable and productive schedule is waking up in the morning at 8-10 AM and going sleep at 12-5 AM.

Q. How did you end up creating awesome brush packs for other artists to use?

A. It started when I realized that mostly all packs of brushes from different artists are similar…same trees, same basic brushes, clouds, oil brushes, they were all using and sharing the same ones and calling it their own.

So I started to actually create my own custom brushes to replace those from other artists in my brush set, with the goal to only have unique and useful tools made for me, by me. Interesting brushes can also impact your in a cool way, so experimenting with brushes is always good if you want to make your art and stronger. I have a huge number of custom brushes but most are still yet to be released. They will be soon! I have only 1 experimental set of gouache & acrylic emulation brushes, but I will update it soon also because this is was only my first try and it can be improved.

For fun I made a few crazy brush packs like Shia Labeouf Motivation brushes, Most Depressive PS Brushes, Game of thrones brushes - all created in a few hours and made available for free. They were very popular which motivated me to create more but also focus on more elite tools.

Q. If somebody could buy all your art skills and leave you with none, how much would you sell them for?

A. I don't want to sell them :) If I got millions of dollars, I might start doing some global projects to push humanity's progress and stop the destruction of our planet, but I don't think masons or oil tycoons would allow me to live a long life :)

I think I would only trade my art skills for music or singing skills since I always wanted to have my own post-hardcore band.

"School" is a song co-written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson of British rock band Supertramp, and included in the band's third and breakthrough 1974 album, Crime of the Century, of which it was the opening track. It was later released as a single in 1983, backed with "Oh Darling", a track from their 1979 album Breakfast in America, and charted at number 27 in Netherlands in 1989. In 2020, the song peaked at number 1 as its highest radio airplay chart in Spain.

The song starts with a long, slow harmonica intro. Hodgson’s verse vocals are first only above his flanged guitar, and then an elongated, strummed guitar section before the song finally fully kicks in. Davies later provides a bright piano lead. It has been described as presaging a similar approach used on Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)", a centrepiece of the band's 1979 similar concept album The Wall.

Hodgson stated that the song is "basically saying that what they teach us in schools is all very fine, but it’s what they don’t teach us in schools that creates so much confusion in our being. They don’t really prepare us for life in terms of teaching us who we are on the inside. They teach us how to function on the outside and to be very intellectual, but they don’t tell us how to act with our intuition or our heart or really give us a real plausible explanation of what life’s about."

Prog contributor Daryl Eastlea said that "'School' married Hodgson’s rally against his upbringing with Davies’ ever-remarkable piano break."