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Razaras (pronounced like Lazarus) is a really cool artist. When you look at his paintings you feel like you’re sitting at a fiery and beautiful sunset with a beautiful woman at your side, you look over her and see the sunlight highlighting every individual strand of her and bathing her in a orange glow of sunlight. The feeling you get from looking at a Razaras work is utterly unique in this regard. There have been thousands of artists who make a unique style of their own using lighting as a key factor, but no artist quite looks exactly like a Razaras piece. This is one of the key things we look for at Urban-Muse, the more unique an artist is, while still retaining familiar aesthetics, this is often is a recipe for success, and Kittichai is reaping the rewards by finally having his fan base start to grow to a great level. Kittichai Reaungchaichan (Razaras) has arrived!

Urban-Muse.com Introductory Statement: Kittichai, you are one of the fastest growing artists we’ve seen submit art to the Urban-Muse wall. I seem to remember the first time you posted you had maybe a couple hundred fans, now your fanbase at “The Art of Razaras” is over 10,000 strong. Your art is really compelling and you have a special way of handling light and hair that few other artists can match, your work is unique and beautiful to look at, exactly the kind of art we want to promote and help grow at Urban-Muse. It’s a honor to feature you in this issue of Urban-Muse magazine.

Urban-Muse.com: Let’s get started. Your full name is Kittichai Reaungchaichan, but you seem to use your pseudonym “Razaras” more often. Can you tell us what Razaras means?

Razaras: Hello! It is a great honor to be interviewed, Curt! My full name is too long and hard to spell for most people, so I decided to use a shorter name. As a Christian, I really love “Lazarus”, in the Bible. I therefore chose this name but changed L to R which is the first letter of my surname. This name seems a bit weird but I like it 🙂

Urban-Muse.com: According to your profiles, you are located in Bangkok. That would make you the second artist so far we’ve profiled from Thailand, the previous one was Imguss, who is also from Bangkok. What can you tell our readers about what it’s like to be an artist in Thailand?

Razaras: Yes, I’ve seen Imguss’s works as well. They look unique and outstanding. Unfortunately, most artists in Thailand are basically not well supported, respected and paid from their compatriots. Most experienced and skillful artists often look for hirings from foreign countries.

Urban-Muse.com: What are your tools? What model Tablet? What program(s)?

Razaras: My tablet is Wacom Intuos Art medium (black) and the program I use is Adobe Photoshop.

Urban-Muse.com: Do you use and specific brushes or plugins you would recommend to our readers?

Razaras: So far, I haven’t used any plugin but I’ve used some specific brushes for painting portrait works. If you’re interested you can take a look and download them from the link under the example picture below. (The example picture file will be attached in the email.)

My Portrait Brushes.abr >> https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8B_1zEKY4nHaTRfLWVZQkNhZUU

Urban-Muse.com: What is your process like? How do you prepare to work, do you just sit down at your desk and get to work, or do you put some special music on etc?

Razaras: I would like to listen to 90’s rock songs while working. The rhythm of rock songs motivates me to do a great work! However, I sometimes listen to EDM and pop music too.

Urban-Muse.com: Which of your pieces would you say is your favorite/most proud of?

Razaras: “Light Study#001 – Maddie Ziegler” is still my most favorite 🙂

Urban-Muse.com: Have you ever had a painting you really struggled with? Did you scrap it, or did you figure out how to fix it? Do you have advice for artists in this kind of a situation?

Razaras: When I began to practice painting 3-4 years ago I had a problem with anatomy. I let it be in some paintings but keep trying to fix it in the next works. My recommendation for a new artist who struggles with this problem is that you should just keep sketching every time you are free to improve your understanding of anatomy. Someday, you become masterful in this career and can create your own masterpiece!

Urban-Muse.com: Which social media / art site would you say has been the best for you and your art? We mentioned earlier that on Facebook you are at over 10k likes! Congratulation

Razaras: Thank you very much for your encouragement and support! Also really appreciate that you, Urban-Muse, introduce my works to public making them much more well-known.

You are definitely one of the most influential media and my favorite! Other art websites such as Artstation and Deviantart are awesome as well.

Urban-Muse.com: How do you find time in your day to create art?

Razaras: I mostly do my painting in the morning before starting the routine job. As I have only about 3-4 hours a day, I began improve my drawing speed.

Urban-Muse.com: Sometimes artists despair and feel like giving up art all together. Have you ever felt like that? What would be your advice to people who might be feeling that way?

Razaras: Yes, I feel ya! I recommendation that when you start feeling like that, try something new. Read the books, watch movies, listening to the music, playing games etc. a few days relaxing from stress. Then you will come back!

Urban-Muse.com: A common question from fans is how do they get better? How can they paint like you? What would be your advice to an artist who wants to get better?

Razaras: Of course! Many people have asked me about the working process and training via an inbox.

To improve your skill:

1. I recommend you to begin with drawing on paper. It would be greatly helpful when you work with a computer.

2. After that, try to find your favorite artists’ working process illustrations and study those artists’ techniques. Most illustrations can be found on the internet. Pinterest is one of the best places to find them.

3. You may re-draw some of your favorite artists’ paintings for learning their process. However, you should not share to public the ones you’ve re-drawn.

4. Open your mind for the criticisms from experienced people which are useful for your development.

5. Keep practicing more and more. You will find your own style. It’s difficult but all artists have passed through this point.

Urban-Muse.com: According to Facebook you attended หนองเสือวิทยาคม. Did you receive art training there or are you self taught?

Razaras: หนองเสือวิทยาคม is my lovely high school. I am self taught. 😀

Urban-Muse.com: What has been the most difficult thing about being an artist?

Razaras: Discipline in learning, practice, and self-improvement are always very difficult!

Urban-Muse.com: What has been the most rewarding thing about being an artist?

Razaras: After you have the discipline of learning to practice, you will create great work and your works will extensively. You will have the opportunity to work with big companies, the employer will contact you.

But you have to train and develop yourself continuously.

Urban-Muse.com: This is a serious question, so I’m sorry in advance. In this issue I am going to tackle a very serious subject that seems to be quite common in the Artist community. Depression. Personally I suffer from it and am trying to work through it, and I’m going to write about it to hopefully help some people out there who might be having a hard time. Have you ever experienced depression? How did it affect your work? Were you able to overcome it? Do you possibly have advice for other artists on how to deal with this?

Razaras: I’ve had this experience. It was a very cruel feeling. About 7-8 years ago I stopped painted for 6 months because of some harsh comments from some people. To be able to enjoy drawing again, it took about 3-4 years. It was a very depressing feeling. But I want to tell everyone that. Everything will pass. You just believe that. If you practice often It will make you better and someday you will be a great artist.

Urban-Muse.com: One of the most striking things about your art is the way you paint light covering a figure and highlighting the hair. Can you tell us about this process and why it’s so important to you?

Razaras: Yeah! In my opinion, most artists can paint a beautiful portrait. But I try new techniques. Try drawing a hair that looks lively. Try to light the impact. It turns out that it that’s what I’m looking for! I will draw hair and special light! 🙂

For My Process:

1. Outline overall.

2. Paint the skin and other parts of the body.

3. The hair. Start with the darkest color of hair first.

4. Bring the brightness of the hair up. Determine the highlight that is affected by this process.

5. Use a 2-3 px hard round brush to draw a line of hair by hand. Follow the direction of your hairline.

6. Use the circle gradient tool to create a light source.

7. Change the layer mode to overlay or soft light as you like.

8. use filter smart sharpen, and little noise for finish the work.

Urban-Muse.com: The art world is changing so rapidly because of new technologies like tablets and now VR. What do you think the future of art will look like?

Razaras: Difficult to guess… :/ Today, the role of 3D plays a huge role. But one thing of digital painting or 2D art will still be the most important. Because before you can create great 3D images, you should have excellent 2D drawing skills first.

Urban-Muse.com: What are your goals for the future? What can we expect in the future from Razaras?

Razaras: I expect that in the near future. Our company will release a game that I am a co-creator of artwork and stuff. And I might be able to open Patreon soon. In the part of “The Art of Razaras I will be live drawing soon for thank you all the people who support and appreciate my work 🙂 Future goal: (I will be practice more and learn more forever 😉

Urban-Muse.com: If you could talk to a younger version of your self knowing all that you know now and what you have learned, what would you tell him?

Razaras: Practice now! Do not wait until age 25 dudes! Hahaha. ( Now I’m 30++ years old )