Interview with

Cindy Grundsten

Thanks for joining us on Talking With the Pros, can you please give us a brief background on where you are from and how you got started in the industry?

My name is Cindy Grundsten and living in Sweden in a medium sized town called Eskilstuna. I have two wonderful adult children. I have always loved to create different things. And when I was a little girl so I drew a lot. When it comes to creating images, I began my faltering steps in the autumn of 2007 with an old photoshop elements. I could absolutely nothing about photoshop and did not understand about how the tools worked. But I played in the program and thought it was great fun. I wanted to learn more so I joined a forum where they showed pictures and talked photoshop. I loved it! I learned more and more and I enjoyed every second. I had so much fun that I forgot to eat and sleep. In 2008, I felt that I wanted to learn more. I surfed around the net to look for good forums and found Deviantart. I spun around in there and looked at all the great pictures. I could not understand how you could possibly do such nice pictures. Photo Manipulation at this level I saw was completely foreign to me. I decided to teach me. Said and done, I watched and learned from other artists’ images, and I read some tutorials. Now I was in heaven! This was the funniest thing I’ve ever done.

Cindy Grundsten
Cindy Grundsten

Have you always been an artistic person? or is it something you developed later on in life?

I have always enjoyed creating in one way or another. So I guess I’m a bit artistically laid. I love the colors. Shades are important to me. It must be the same when I work with an image. I also love music and dancing.

Cindy GrundstenCindy Grundsten

Can you give us a brief walk-through on the process you take when doing one of your artwork?

It’s a little hard to explain how I do when I work with an image. It varies a bit. But first it is of course a lots of cut out of the model and other items. Then I look up a suitable background. Often it takes more diverse backgrounds to build what I want. When I have everything in place I’m starting to work with each individual object. Retousch of the model, maby hair painting – Colors – light – shadows – highlights – blur – sharpen, and so on. It is important to get together all the pieces into a single unit. The color tone is very important and must be included in all the details. For example, I can not have a background that goes into a blue tone. And a model that is in a yellow tone. Everything must match. Often, I have no idea when I start. The ideas come while I’m working with the image.

Cindy GrundstenCindy Grundsten

Which do you prefer, working as a freelance designer or for company?

I think I prefer working as a freelancer. It gives me more freedom. And it gives me the freedom to only take the jobs I want.
I have made many tough and almost impossible job. With very bad original photo. Unfortunately, many people do not know how much work it is behind a finished image. And many also think I can do magic. I have cried many times when I sat with an impossible job. But I have always finish it. But now I have learned to speak up.Cindy GrundstenCindy Grundsten

Throughout your career, what is one of the most important lessons you learned that you have applied to your paintings?

A difficult question, really. Everything I learned, I see as equally important. If you look at my pictures, you will see that I am very flexible. I vary a lot, and keeps me not only to a single style, or a single type of image. I have promised myself not to get stuck in one genre. Instead I want to be proficient in a variety of styles. I want to be wide in my creativity.
Cindy GrundstenCindy Grundsten

Which software & tools (tablets) do you use for your work?

I use Photoshop CS5 and of course a a tablet (Intous). If I do images with texts, (book cover, CD-cover) as shall be printed I use Illustrator for the text.

Cindy GrundstenCindy Grundsten

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I do not know where I am about 5 years in my creativity. But I hope I have more knowledge and the dream of course would be if I could support myself on my creativity. Or maybe teach others what I can. We will see in 5 years.

Cindy GrundstenCindy Grundsten

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, any final words for our readers?

To all of you that creates images in one way or another, do it with joy. Remember that you have got a talent. An innate talent. And it’s a great gift. A gift to develop and appreciate. And you, who want to work proffisionellt, never underestimate yourself. Make no job for the crumbs. Get paid for your work and your knowledge. You are unique, and your art are unique. And most important, create and be happy. Create your art exactly the way you want it. Not what others want, but what you want. And was always grateful for your wonderful gift of being able to create. 

Thank you.

Cindy Grundsten
To view more of Cindy Grundsten’s amazing work visit her DeviantART page.