Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to T.H.. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi T.H., thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
There were two moments in my childhood that I feel go hand-in-hand in this realization.
The first was a dream I had at the age of six or seven. In the dream, I owned an art gallery, and the images within had a fantastical quality. They had the aesthetic of 1980s fantasy films I was growing up with—especially the 1984 film The Neverending Story, directed by Wolfgang Petersen—which appropriately, is a narrative about the connection between dream and reality. When I woke from the dream, I remember thinking how great it would be to make paintings like the ones in the gallery, and share them with others. My vivid dream life continued, I had a strong impulse to visualize in general. I feel that this set the stage for my creative journey and what was to come later.
The second moment—the one where I really felt I wanted to be an active artist in the world—happened when I was around twelve. I was drawing a moonlit castle in graphite. I had drawn pictures before, but here I had decided I would really work at it: to get the details in and utilize shading. It was like my first truly conscious drawing. When it was finished, I realized I had some ability to piece things together, to give life to a drawing. That’s when I knew I had a technical skill that I could develop and carry forward.
I continued working on the technical side of things, often drawing portraits of people and animals. But there was also that strong imaginative dreamscape in the background. This visionary aspect merged more and more with the technical, moving into expression, surrealism, and dream-logic.
This all culminated in 2020, during the isolation of the pandemic. In that space of free time, my art blossomed, and I was really creating the kinds of images I was wanting to create. At this point, I was well into my exploration of digital painting, my most used medium, and was producing works that felt like crystallizations of my imaginal world—drawn from the substance of dreams. When I see the art I make today, its feels a lot like those paintings from the dream gallery all those years ago.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I remember drawing at a very young age—the creative impulse was there. I was often making up stories about the drawings. Without realizing it at the time, I was teaching myself how to draw and how to apply storytelling.
When I was in elementary school, art classes piqued my interest and my assignments often received positive reactions from classmates and teachers. I was encouraged, and outside of school, I took classes at the community center, learning about various techniques and media. And back in school, during computer lab, I was doing my very first digital paintings with a mouse in MS Paint. When I was in high school, there was actually a computer art class and I got my first try with Adobe Photoshop.
In college I majored in graphic design. I appreciated all the the new tools and techniques I was learning, as well as the inspiration that came from art history classes. I became further acquainted with creative software like Photoshop and Illustrator. I also got familiar with Wacom tablets.
Much later, I would discover the Procreate app, where I was then able paint directly on an iPad. This caused my art to become more and more refined and allowed me to focus in on details, to really get in touch with my digital paintings. I feel free with my art when using Procreate.
Today, I call myself a visual artist and storyteller. My main medium of choice is digital painting. The art is often surreal and serves as an exploration of place and identity. When it comes to making art for others, it’s like a teaming up of my imagination and the imagination of the person I’m working with. The client may have a story or musical project, and I get to know their work and try to align my art—in its unique, dream-like quality—with what they’re doing.
I have designed a number of book covers, sold prints of my art, and have collaborated with others on creative projects.
I am most proud of the digital paintings I’ve been creating over the past few years. I’ve pushed the limits of what I can do in terms of detail and composition. I’ve been able to produce work that is cerebral and evocative—worlds for others to explore and engage with.
Currently, I have an ongoing storytelling project. I write as well, and I’m working on a novel titled The Shadow Play Hypnotisms, which will contain my illustrations in select chapters. It is an urban fantasy novel inspired by Pittsburgh folklore. I hope to release the chapters online as I finish them, perhaps through Patreon and Substack.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I mentioned majoring in graphic design in college. That was an expansive experience, but there was a strong push to get into making ads and using art to sell commercial products. Deep down, I was never interested in that. But that was the direction the school was pushing me in by the end—hyper-focused on the popular and the practical. I think that was a barrier, because I spent so much time trying to do something my heart wasn’t in, instead of diving into the strange, illustrative world I really wanted to explore.
Certainly, illustration was an option, but the staff strongly pushed minimalist ad and web design, and I got caught up in the pressure—both from people in and outside of school.
I graduated, and there came a time when I felt I just had to choose: was I going to play it safe, or was I going take a leap into what was really calling me?
It took some time to realize that illustration—making art for myself and selling prints, storytelling, and creating meaningful illustrations for others—was the direction I wanted to go. It may be the more difficult road, but it’s the one that makes me feel like myself, and brings me joy. This is the resilient path I continue to walk.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Sharing my art has been deeply rewarding. My inner, imaginal world is very important to me, and being able to create from that place and share it with others is one of greatest aspects of being an artist. When people view my work, it brings further life to the art—because as I have my own thoughts about what I create, those observing it often bring their own insights. In this way, the creative energy of the work continues.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thkainaros/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thkainaros
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/thkainaros.bsky.social
https://cara.app/thkainaros
Image Credits
T.H. Kainaros