High Artist Spotlight: Farits Riley
Mohamad Fariz Hishanudin, aka Farits Riley, is a hobbyist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He really likes drawing so much in his life that he is willing to keep on improving his drawing skill over and over, even if he wants to draw something so weird or psychedelic. He developed a passion in drawing ever since he started watching Codename : Kids Next Door when he was eleven years old, the show was the main reason he became who he is. At the beginning of his phase in drawing, his art style was more cartoony because the art style was initially heavily influenced by the aforementioned show. However, as years go by, he began to feel bored with his old art-style and started to change his art style into a more semi-realistic, though still cartoony, art style. The art-style that he thought is more retro-inspired, being a fan of old stuff himself, and subtly more heavily influenced by European comic-books, as he is fascinated with the way the comics were drawn, Being a so-called perfectionist, he likes to keep his drawings appear neat. A personal fan of the ligne-claire art-style, Farits Riley claimed that he was influenced by artists like Hergé, Edgar P. Jacobs. He also cited Osamu Tezuka, Charles Burns and, strangely, Enid Blyton as his influencers. Personally, he also wished to be an illustrator one day, as well as a graphic novelist/comic-book artist who aspires to create his own comic someday in the future.
We recently caught up with Farits after High Art 2022 to learn more about his most recent inspirations:
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Where do you find your creative inspiration?
I found my creative inspiration when I was reading European comic books made by the likes of Hergé and Edgar P. Jacobs. I also found my creative inspiration looking at artworks drawn in the past.
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Why do you do what you do?
Drawing has always been my life. It is valuable and precious to me and it always makes me feel happy.
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What art/artist do you most identify with?
The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé is what I mostly identify with, though I can still identify Blake and Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs too.
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What themes do you pursue the most?
Retro. Cartoons. Anything old-fashioned, I suppose.
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What role does an artist have in society?
To me, artists can contribute to society because they can show their creativity and let their minds speak to other people. Artists can help beautify cities with their paintings and their murals. Artists help to keep art galleries and museums alive.
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What is your artistic outlook on life?
Based on my artistic outlook in life, I find that life can be a good inspiration that can inspire me to draw something that I like.
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What advice would you give to your younger self?
Don't listen to what people would say to you. They can insult your drawings all they want and the can make fun of you for being a bad artist all they want, but remember they are not as perfect as they appear. They still bleed like you and me, they still sleep like you and me, they even have hunger like you and me. At the end of the day, you should be your own you and never let other people's detrimental opinions hurt you.'
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Do you listen to music while you are creating? If yes, tell us your favorite song and artist.
Yes. Oh, this is going to be the hardest thing to say since there are a lot of favourite songs in mind, considering I like the oldies. But the most favourite would be 'She's Always a Woman' by Billy Joel.
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What's the best thing about being an artist?
The best thing about being an artist is that I can express myself in a way that I myself can never understand myself
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What is your dream project?
To create a comic series named 'The Adventures of Leopold McCallister'
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