Hello! First of all, could you start by introducing yourself? Can you give us a brief information about your name,
the type of your art and your various interests in the art world?

Hello! My name is Victoria Konstantinova, I'm 27 years old. My creative pseudonym is Vikonstanti, made up of part of my first name and part of my last name. To be honest, I've been thinking for a long time how it can be played to sound good. I'm a traditional artist, but buying a tablet 2 years ago made a change in my life and I immersed myself in digital. I'm insanely interested in everything related to art, but mostly it's about improving my skills, learning directions, different techniques and materials. I would call myself a curious artist.
 

When did you start making art? What was the first time you met art or what attracted you to it?

The thing is, I was born this way and I didn't choose what I wanted to be when I grew up, even though I had attempts to find myself, they were more externally instilled, but subconsciously I always knew that I would never give up what I loved. My love for art was passed down from generation to generation. My grandfather painted, my father painted and my love for art was instilled in me from an early age. When I was 1.5 years old I would get lost at home and be found sitting at the table quietly drawing rabbits. I don't know for what reason I was drawing them and I had earrings in my ears. 
 

What does art mean to you? How do you see the impact of art on people?

For me, art is a manifestation of myself, a way to talk to people without words, a way to hide from all the bad things and immerse myself in my own world, where no one can disturb or offend me. It's like my own personal nirvana, which helps me cope with a not always rosy reality and heals me to some extent. Art helps people to express themselves, to live a certain experience through the prism of creativity, and the viewer - to look behind the screen of another person's consciousness, to get acquainted with him, with his feelings and emotions, perhaps to learn something new, to inspire or help to rethink something. I can enumerate endlessly, but without art our world would not have a chance to exist, because even nature is an artist.
 

How long have you been active in NFT and how did you get started? Can you tell us a bit about creating and marketing your first NFT piece?

I started doing NFT in January 2021. I stumbled upon an artist who was talking about the field and then I got into a chat room with other artists which helped me understand NFT because I was someone who didn't know much about NFT, I had only heard three letters. My first work was very poor and never sold. At that time I had just started to find my style and had spent six months mastering digital art, so I didn't expect too much from myself. The NFT has changed a lot compared to when I was just starting out and back then it was enough to make a drop and tweet to get noticed. Marketing was not a very important thing for a 1/1 artist.
 

What inspires you to experiment with various art styles? How do you decide to explore and develop different styles?

I found my style completely by accident, you could say it came to me independently in the process, but with constant practice everything started to change and evolve. I love realism and I have been working in that direction all my life, but then a certain surrealism was added and I started mixing it because I thought it more accurately reflected the meaning of each of my works. Then I wanted to try something minimalist and I was inspired by people's emotions, especially my work that describes how I feel my emotions. In this way, minimalist works emerged in which I reflect only the emotions of a person in different situations. I wanted my work to be felt with a single glance and for that I had to eliminate anything that could distract attention. I wouldn't say I'm discovering styles, rather I'm discovering myself and looking for a way to express that. In this way I think I'm being completely honest with the viewer.
 

What does it mean for you to use art as a social or political platform? How do you approach social or political issues through your art?​

As I said before, art can speak to people, so it can be on different subjects, but the subject matter will depend on the creator. If an artist is interested in social issues, they will write works that reflect that and the same goes for politics. Such works are well used as charity work, as a way of making your voice heard and can leave a mark in history. Personally, my work is social, for me politics is a very dirty thing, but it is also very social. With my art I try to convey to people what they forget or don't think about, some of my works reflect the structure of our world, motivate or highlight mental problems or life situations that many people face. I often hear that my work is deep, which means that I can say what I want to say.
 

Can you explain how you progress from the concept of a piece to a finished artwork?​

My work comes out of the blue. At first it may be a thought or an observation that I want to express. Once my work was born only because I looked at the outlet for a long time and found an association with my emotions. In general, to begin with, I grow the seed of an idea. Next I think over how I can express this idea, what pose to choose, what will be in this work besides the character itself and I start to create a reference. I also separately photograph the sky, or landscape for the background of the work, if I need flowers, stones or other attributes, I also photograph them and all this is collected in one full reference, like a puzzle. Then I proceed to the process of creating the work. If it is a digital work, then first I draw everything in procreate and apply the effect of the canvas, then go to another program and add textures. If it is traditional art, I transfer the created reference to canvas and paint in oil.
 

How do you find motivation and inspiration in your creative work?

Inspiration is everywhere and it is something very abstract, something that no one sees but everyone talks about it. I am deeply convinced that for inspiration to come, you need motivation, and for motivation to come, you just need desire and a goal. All this is interconnected and when this chain is not broken, everything comes by itself. If I feel a lack of desire or apathy, I live this moment, I try to take more walks, watch things I like, do things that make me feel better and always remember my goal, then the chain is restored and I continue to create. Sometimes it's just laziness and it's easy to mistake it for apathy. There is a phrase "appetite comes at mealtimes" so sometimes it's enough to sit down to work and be swept away into this creative nirvana.
 

Are there any artists or artworks that have influenced or inspired you the most in your career? Can you describe these influences and sources of inspiration?

I may surprise you, but maybe someone would understand . I try not to look at other artists. Of the world's famous artists, I know probably 5-7 names, but now I try to look more at the techniques of the old masters and expand my horizons. So I don't ignore those I support, and I don't ignore the history of art and the creators of many styles, I just don't want to subconsciously adopt someone else's ideas, so I limit myself to just studying the process.
 

Do you have any notable achievements or sales in your career?

All my achievements are thanks to the NFT. I have a recognizable style, there was not a small number of sales, my work participated in various exhibitions and even printed in a Japanese art magazine. Previously, I could not even dream of this when I was painting portraits to order. So I think that in 2 years I have achieved a lot, but there is still a lot to aspire to.
 

What were the challenges you faced as a NFT artist and how did you overcome them?

Like many artists, I faced the problem of burnout and apathy. When no one pays attention to your work for a long time, everyone starts looking for the problem in themselves. Thinking why they buy from others and not from me. At first it was very hard psychologically until I realized simple truths.

1. You don't need to look at others, you need to go your own way as it is individual.
2. It is important to believe in yourself and your art.
3. You should never compare yourself to others.
4. It is up to us to decide who to support and who to ignore.
5. There is ALWAYS a viewer and a connoisseur for every work. 

The only thing I've encountered, but haven't fully solved, is the marketing problem, and it happens too. Many artists suffer from the fact that they have to spend a lot of time on social media and still have time to create. Planning helps me with this, I try to plan my day and important content. But I'm still a long way away from proper, well-built marketing.
 

What are your long-term goals as an artist? What do you want to achieve in your career?

Like any artist, I want recognition, I want my art to be in demand and to reach more people. I want to achieve the level that I could organize my solo exhibition and people would be happy to come to it. I want to leave a piece of myself in our history.
 

Can you give us some hints about upcoming projects or exhibitions? Can you share what the audience should expect in the future?

At the moment I am in the stage of improving my skills and emphasize on traditional art, so in the future I plan to create a large number of works on canvas, one of them is already in process and quite impressive size, as well as perhaps my subjects will be slightly modified, I really want to experiment. There is also a hope that these works will get a look at some exhibition.
 

How do you think the value and appreciation of NFT art will develop in the future? How do you assess the changes and trends in this field?

The NFT is constantly changing, and so dramatically that not every artist is able to adapt to it. I think that NFT in the field of art has great prospects, and those artists who can withstand the pressure of change and market fluctuations will definitely be rewarded. Many famous galleries in the real world are already using this technology, various brands and already famous artists. It seems to me that nft gives a chance to those who haven't even thought about showing themselves to the world yet and to consolidate the influence of those who have already achieved something.
 

As a parting note, is there anything else you would like to share?

I would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to share my story and my art, it has been an exciting adventure! I would also like to say a couple of words of advice to all artists. Believe in yourself, it's important! Don't be afraid to try and explore new facets of your creativity! It's important to just do what you truly love, small steps will lead to big successes!