My name is Tatiana and I was born in May 1998. I’m a self-taught digital artist and I go as Tati MoonS. I mostly paint girls and women, but you can find some animals and males in my artwork as well.
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Horror Sleaze Trash: I’m really excited to get the chance to talk with you! I love your artwork so much! Tell us a little about yourself.
Tatiana: So, my real name is Tatiana and my last name Luna. I was born in Spain in 1998. I turned 20 in May and my favorite animals are tarantulas and giraffes.
HST: When did you first become interested in art? What made you decide to start create the work that you do?
Tatiana: I have been interested in art since I was a child, I can’t remember exactly when it began! I’ve always painted girls and my favorite characters, so my style has developed itself, making me create the work I do nowadays!
HST: Your character fanart is actually how I first discovered your art! I came across your Marceline and Bubblegum and loved them. I’m a huge fan of Adventure Time. Anyway, what would you say most inspires you?
Tatiana: There is nothing at all that inspires me, but at the same time everything inspires me. It’s really just everyday living, I guess. I get really inspired and involved in every little detail, or from a little idea that gets bigger and bigger and that’s really it. Sorry if that’s a boring answer, but it’s the truth! I always keep myself involved in things that require something related to art, like video games for instance.
HST: How do you feel your art has changed and developed over the years?
Tatiana: As I said before, I’ve always painted females and fanart. It’s always on the same line but with slight differences that have eventually developed into what I do now. When I was a child, about 3 to 4 years old, my parents always gave me Disney Princess stuff like stickers, colouring books, all that girly stuff that dads and moms usually give to their little girl. I also loved painting so if we take a look back to my first drawings, they were Cinderella fanart. But in 2002, Bratz dolls came into my life and I loved them! I thought their style was unique. I loved the fact that they wear big platforms (which I love, I have many!) and they wear black! My favorite color! I instantly began painting them. My interest in clothing started to increase as well. When I was about 7, the Internet came to me and discovered the goth/emo/scene style and fell in love. So I painted ‘goth’ Bratz and darker original characters. But, I also played a lot of video games when I was a child, which gave me interest in digital stuff. My dad gave me my first Wacom tablet when I was younger, but it was hard to use which made me give up on digital world for a long time. In 2010, I moved to another city where I started high school and I stopped painting since I had no time. Sometimes I painted very dark original drawings focused on pencil portrait, but I usually only drew while I was in class. It was a lot of quick pen sketches of women with messages promoting the ‘free the nipple’ movement and other similar movements. That was the year I really involved myself in feminism. I kept doing that until 2016, when I decided that I wanted to make my own t shirt brand and decided to use the graphic tablet again. In December of that year, I opened my Instagram account to share that stuff. I was reported, so Instagram deleted my account for nudity (even though they say you can post females nipples if it’s a drawing). I was finally able to reactivate it, but I was kind of disappointed that I had to censor my art, so I rarely posted or painted anymore. I had to convince myself to start painting girls with clothes again, which really sucked for me, but as time passed I was enjoying that more and more, and then suddenly I found myself painting everyday and finding the perfect job! So that is the story of how my art developed! It’s been a mix from all the painting stages and styles in my life; Disney princesses and others with cool clothes, promoting feminism whenever I can, and of course tattoos, scarifications and others since I really loved the 90s hardcore scene as I was a teen!
HST: What other hobbies or art do you indulge in? What do you like to do with your free time?
Tatiana: Whenever I’m not painting, I spend a lot of time playing or creating something on The Sims 4! And this isn’t a hobby since I don’t practice it yet, but I would love to be able to tattoo some day. That’s been a passion of mine since I was a teen. I also spent a year studying to become a dead-bodies makeup artist/preparer (I think it’s call an undertaker in English, but I’m not sure), so if I ever have time I would love to do that job as a hobby as well.
HST: What other artists do you look up to and/or admire?
Tatiana: There are a lot! This is the hardest question, honestly. Astri Lohne was the one that made me want to keep doing digital art even though it wasn’t my style (plus, I love all her illustrations). David Lucas’s art is phenomenal too. On the other hand, we have Ursula Decay. I wish I was able to paint cartoon drawings like hers! There’s also the traditional stuff like Victoria Frances. Pff! There are so many artists!!!
HST: Do you have a favorite piece that you’ve worked on? Is there one that was most challenging?
Tatiana: I love my fanart of Shego! But my ‘Darlene Pian’ one still my favorite. That one is very beloved, since was one of my firsts and has a lot of meaning to me. The most challenging one was the Sailor Moon fanart I did. I tried to get out of my comfort zone and paint a background, but I feel like I messed it up so I quite hate it.
HST: Speaking of challenging, you mentioned to me that you often have other people use your work for various reasons without speaking with you first. Is that something that’s frustrating to you or does it not bother you too much?
Tatiana: If someone takes my art and gives me credit properly, I have no problem, even though I think that asking first gives you some professionalism. (I don’t know if this is legal to say, but BoredPanda never asked me if they could use my work, and it’s okay because I don’t mind, but as a big magazine, someday someone could get mad at that). But there are some other little things that bother me; obviously deleting my sign or not giving me credit, and what I hate the most is when they ‘edit’ my art. For example, cropping only the paintings where I added stretch marks and hiding them, or hiding t shirt quotes. Seems like they do not want polemic, but if you are going to gain views and cash with my art, then do things properly or go home since I do not only want to paint characters if not giving a message too.
HST: I think that’s a really good point. I bet a lot of artists feel that way. What’s your favorite movie and/or book?
Tatiana: There are a lot of movies! I can’t pick one! But probably The Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline or Spirited Away! As far as books go, I really love the Emily the Strange saga. Also, Rébecca Dautremer’s illustrations are awesome.
HST: I’m a big fan of Coraline and Spirited Away myself. You also mentioned you like video games. What are your favorite video games?
Tatiana: My favorite video game is Kingdom Hearts! But I also really enjoy survival horror ones, like Silent Hill or the first Resident Evils. I also love Forbidden Siren 2. Oh, and of course there are the classics, like Crash Bandicoot 1 or 3, Spyro… all that stuff.
HST: Are there any fictional characters that are your favorite? Are there any you relate to?
Tatiana: I love Scarlett Kensignton from the book ‘Ghostgirl’, which I read when I was 10 or so. In fact, I really love almost all books characters since I can imagine my own version of them! I also relate a lot to Violet from ‘The Incredibles’.
HST: Well, thank you so much for talking to us! It’s been a pleasure and we can’t wait to see more of your art in the future! Where can we find you and connect with you online? Social media? Website?
Tatiana: It’s been a pleasure for me ❤ I post all my content on Instagram @tatimoons. You can also find me posting stuff on my Facebook page and I try to make daily updates on my Patreon page. I also have a website where you can find my full portfolio and shop!
Horror Sleaze Trash 