Your Full Name:
Lauri Jonbenett
If you have a bachelor degree/education background; what is it?
Yes I got a degree, I attended University Dr Rafael Belloso Chacin located in Zulia – Venezuela and graduated as a Graphic designer, The reason why I studied Graphic design and not art was because of personal problems with my family, anyone supported me so, being very young, approximately 16, I had to study what they offered in that school and Graphic design was the closest I could find.
Nevertheless as the career went on and on I found out how different the purposes of both were, Graphic design is more about projecting a concept that a publicist asks you to do while art is totally FREE of boundaries, I am still looking forward to study ART when I get the first opportunity and the money of course.
Tell us about you
I am the third child of my parent’s union, Aquarius, born on February, I love drawing and painting, I have been doing this since I have memory, I don’t work, I don’t have a job and I am not planning on getting one any soon.
I am a free lance graphic designer, I don’t like design so I decided to work from home so I can decide which projects I will take and which ones I’ll discard.
I live with my partner and best friend in the whole world, who also happens to be my life companion and shares most of my same interests; we work together in some projects and basically deal with the problems of life together as one.
Where are you located?
I live in Venezuela
What do you do when you are not producing artwork?
I love going out and have fun with my partner, we live in the city so we can’t go hiking or any of those stuff done outdoors in the mountains, nonetheless we have fun at the local malls, go to the movies, eat at restaurants, and every now and then we travel across the city so that we reach a place with a colder weather, Other things I enjoy doing include reading and writing, I WRITE A LOT.
What drove you to become an illustrator?
Anything, I became an illustrator because I was born with the need to portrait everything I thought of and that’s how it all started from a very young age.
How do you promote/sell/showcase your work?
That’s a good one, I am in this art’s community called Deviant Art and there I promote my work by uploading it to many different clubs I have joined. In the real life I haven’t done much to promote any of my work due to the lack of time and lack of support, I am going to create a web page as soon as I get myself into some classes and then I am planning on going to different local galleries see if I can get some support from them.
Lately support or promotion for my work is not a big deal to me, I mean it doesn’t bother me since I create my work to satisfy my personal necessities, nonetheless it would always be great to get a little more audience and actually be able to live off my work.
What’s your way(s) to balancing work and life?
As I explained before I don’t have a job, I work when I need money so when I want to create I create and there is always a lot of time in my life for my art.
A great illustrator is……
Someone that can portrait a concept or idea in the least time possible, in the most original way there can be, and with the least materials available.
Who is an illustrator that you look up to? Why so?
I don’t generally follow anyone, actually most of my work has always started on a blank sheet of paper so this is a very hard question, and I am going to have to say that anyone. Thought I could mention artists that I like, Dali for example, his work was remarkable and I love Surrealism so. Dali’s work was amazing; I wouldn’t say that it inspires my work because it doesn’t.
What do you think about the Internet and how it is affecting the visual communication business?
I think is a great tool to showcase your work and get to many different types of clients, for example, in my country, more specific in my city people doesn’t really understand my work but in the internet I have found that my biggest target would be out of my country.
So if I ever decided to sell my work or anything alike I know the internet would be an amazing tool to get to do that, there are many different ways of achieving a nice profit out of a net selling system, and I know this for commentaries of friends that have already done it 
What music are you listening lately?
I love all type of music, I adore soft romantic music, lately I am really into M-Craft and Jeff Bluckley, but usually my music range is HUGE, I can go from a heavy metal song to the softest melody you’ll find on a music box, I love music.
How does the global economic recession affecting the industry, or the least affecting your business/ work?
I am terribly broke at the moment, economy in my country is HORRIBLE, we get paid less than what we spend in a month, I deal fine with economy, I have switched my image production to the digital medium due to this.
I can’t afford traditional art materials so I had to learn how to paint on my computer with Photoshop so that I could continue producing art. It was hard but I already had a previous training so I just needed to step on it a bit and problem sorted.
Name 3 your favorite art books.
The Complete Costume History by Auguste Racinet, This is my only art’s book at the moment and it was a birthday present, I love that book, it showcases different clothing styles from ancient times to the 19th century. It’s awesome.
What do you like the smell of?, i.e. coffee brewing, morning grass, etc. Why so?
I love the smell of popcorns, is weird, every time that I smell popcorn the best memories come to my mind and I know I am having a good time.
If you have online portfolio (website/awards/credits/client’s showcase), what is the URL?
At the moment I only have my Deviant art account page and the url to that is http://ninaste.deviantart.com/ I am looking forward to creating a personal website.
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