Hello our lovely subscribers and readers! We are back to doing interviews with the talented and creative members of our fandom, and we have a real treat for you. An amazing fanartist @milkyopi whose work looks like it should live in prestigious art galleries and not just our browsers. I also have to thank our own @icelycheetea for making this interview possible.
How did you become an iKONIC?
Well, I knew them since their debut basically when I didn’t even know what kpop was. Then when they had a comeback with Bling Bling I started to listen to them more and I also first stanned Bobby when he released his solo album. When Return was released I said “that’s it, you need to stan them” and here I am.
A very good advice you gave yourself there. Now I am curious, what is your favorite iKON song or a moment?
At this point I don’t think I have a favorite song or a moment from them if I’m being honest. But if I have to mention one, than the first moment that comes to my mind would be when they won SOTY at MMA last year.
Oh, a grand moment for our fandom for sure. Now you are exceptional artist, how exactly did you become an iKON fanartist?
I don’t really know, when I first joined the fandom all I wanted to do was draw them and it’s weird because I never really enjoyed doing fanart before them.
Is art something you do just as a hobby or are you a professional artist?
Started as a hobby and now it’s like in between but I want to become a fully professional artist in the future!
Well, looking at your work I believe that you will achieve that dream for sure. What inspires your fanart?
Music/videos, photoshoots, movies.
Is there a particular member, ship or a theme you love to draw?
Favorite members to draw would probably be Hanbin, Donghyuk and Jinhwan. My favorite ships are Jundong and Bobdong, but haven’t draw them yet.. And for themes I totally looove dark/badass/royalty/gangsta themes.
Oooooohhh, I love those themes too and I always felt iKON fits them really well. Now, I am sure that the more technical minded and artistic among us wish to know what is your favorite technique/medium to work in?
Digital!
You get a lot of reaction and feed back for your work from other fans. Was there anything someone said that stayed with you as special?
Every sweet encouraging message stays with me, I even took screenshots and have a folder full of them! Haha
Do you hear this guys? Do not be stingy in praising our fanartists!! I think everyone loves fanart and fanartist, I never saw anything negative ever said under a fanart post. Is my impression right?
I didn’t got so many negative ones since i’m a pretty small artist but sadly there is, the most common one might be “it looks like {insert another person}”
Everyone’s a critic 🙄. Is there any particular illustration or comic you drew that is special to you and that you would like to share with us? Tell us why is it special?
All of my drawings are really special to me but I have two that are more important, my ‘goodbye road’ ot7 painting because it was the first time I make such a big piece and it’s them so that makes it instantly special. And the second one would be my ‘ocean eyes’ portrait of Donghyuk inspired by the song ‘ocean eyes’ by Billie Eilish. Some parts of the lyrics reminds me of him, like “Can’t stop staring at those ocean eyes” and “I’ve never fallen from quite this high, falling into your ocean eyes”. For me Donghyuk’s eyes are deep, i lose myself in his eyes every time I see him. I love all of the iKON members as if they were my friends my entire life, I’ve never felt this way for an idol before and with Dong as the bias it is even more special because all of a sudden he stole my heart so it really fits him.
Was your art ever used without your permission or plagiarized? How do you prevent things like that from happening.
Sadly yeah I’ve seen people editing it into videos, using it for freebies, some using my work as profile pics and they didn’t credit or didn’t even retweeted my own post! You can’t really prevent that, people don’t care about watermarks or the time you took into that drawing.
That is a shame. We must respect artists’ work and credit at all times. Your art has a chance to reach iKON members or people close to them, thus giving you the satisfaction of reaching your idol in a way most of fans can only dream off. How does that make you feel?
Ohh I always think about this, even tho i never got a real response from them knowing that they might have seen at least one of my drawings makes me the happiest person in the world.
Have you ever thought of making fan merchandise using your art or publishing it? And if you did, tell us where we can get our hands on it.
Yes, all the time! In the meantime I have two online shops (Society6 and INPRNT) because I can’t produce and ship it myself but I would love to start my own shop this year ♡
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and art with us!
You can find and follow the lovely and talented Opi on following social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/milkyopi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milkyopi/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXiPixpZX-O25I4dchnYBtg
Society6: https://society6.com/milkyopi
INPRNT: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/milkyopi/
KONY'S ISLAND 
Wow, these are beautiful!
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