As a freelance fantasy artist, Júlio Kronemberger creates digital illustrations that are imaginative and atmospheric. His love for the art of role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, serves as a compass for his artistic journey as well as inspiration for the strong senses of adventure, narrative, and world-building within his drawings.

ART AS A CAREER
Having drawn consistently throughout his childhood, Júlio always remained engaged with creating art but, like many artists, never considered art as a career option. Originally inspired by the art in Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, Júlio realized that illustration, especially in the realm of fantasy and storytelling, was a career path in art that he hadn’t considered before. After learning more about the artists that had contributed to the books, he had the thought, “I can do this!” and decided to more seriously pursue the idea of making art professionally.

PROCESS OF LEARNING
Setting a clear direction or goal can help encourage insight and clarity at any point in one’s art practice. In Júlio’s case, he found that academic studies were a good place for him to start. In the context of achieving a technically accurate representation through traditional practices of drawing and painting, it was easy to critique himself and understand what was “right” or “wrong.” However, after a year and a half of enrollment at an atelier, Júlio came to the realization that “I always wanted to do fantasy illustration, and I was like, ‘Wait, I’ve been at this for over a year and I haven’t drawn anything fantasy. There must be something wrong.’”

At that time, he attempted his first personal illustration and discovered that the development of his technical skills hadn’t prepared him for this particular moment. Duly noting that this was an important fall in order to find his way, and despite the discouragement, Júlio recognized the need to change and delved into more personally meaningful projects to deepen his knowledge.

“I would believe anything except the truth, which is you gotta accept that your drawings are not going to look the way that you want them to for a pretty long while."

HAVING MORE THAN ONE STYLE
Knowing that he came from a traditional background makes Júlio’s illustrative digital work in recent years incredibly fascinating. When it comes to experimenting with various styles, he remarks, “Honestly I don’t give it too much thought; I usually just let it happen. It makes me feel less anxious about making art, and I think that’s better overall.” One key thing that Júlio considers with his work is tuning his creativity to the particular challenge, theme, or context of each project with the mindset that “It’s a good thing to choose different styles for different projects… I’m happy to see now that whatever style I’m doing, it looks like I made it.”

THE NEXT CAMPAIGN
For now, Júlio is set to continue working within the RPG space, ideally on projects that pique his interest and encourage him to find joy in the process of learning. Ultimately, the north star that he tunes his creative compass to is someday working with one of the more well-known fantasy giants such as Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. With a valiant smile, Júlio adds, “I think it might happen.”

Follow Júlio on Instagram @julio_kronemberger
Check out his ArtStation at www.artstation.com/kronem-j