The Quick Q & A editorial in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine is a much loved regular feature, in which we ask 5 artists the same 4 questions. In the December Issue 51, these were the Quick Q & A questions:
- What’s a creative risk you’ve taken that completely changed your perspective or practice?
- If your work could whisper one thing to the viewer, what would it say?
- In moments of self-doubt or burnout, what do you do to enable you to keep going?
- Has envy ever shown up in your creative journey? How have you learned to cope with it or transform it?
We feel that the artists’ responses provide such a valuable insight for our community of artists that we wanted to share one Quick Q & A response from each issue with you, going forward. The December Issue 51 print is sold out but you can download the digital magazine via our webstore to read more. To ensure you never miss an issue again, you can also subscribe to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and have each issue sent straight to your door each quarter.
Excerpt from Issue 51 // December 2025 Quick Q & A editorial: Aico Tsumori, Crisselle, Gina Matarazzo, Junna Maruyama, Dead Seagull all respond to the below Quick Q & A:
Has envy ever shown up in your creative journey? How have you learned to cope with it or transform it?
“There are artists I admire, whom I envy once in a while, because
maybe they reveal a dream project I’d love to do too, but don’t think
I’ll ever get the same kind of opportunity. Or maybe they’ve created an amazing personal piece that I feel I’d never have enough free time to work on. But then I’ll ask myself – what is it I’m really envious about?
If it’s the assignment itself, it could have been a real stressful job to work on! If it’s the nature of the work itself, maybe it’s just scratching a creative itch that I’ve been neglecting, and I can figure out how to incorporate something new into what I’m working on. So, I strive to do better work.”
“My current workshop and my house are very old and inconvenient environments, and honestly, I am not sure how long I can continue using them as they are. As a result, I sometimes envy nicer workshops and nice houses. It’s incredible how much your environment can affect your creativity and productivity!
However, all of these little moments and feelings also enter the work, and as a result, I am enjoying the current situation. I like my current life and it’s interesting. Furthermore, these experiences foster unique emotions which I channel into my sculptures. There will always be difficulties and challenges, so it’s best to not become hindered by emotions such as envy.”
“I often feel torn because I have so many visions for my future – sometimes it feels like I want to live four different lives at once. So, I’d say I’m envious of other people’s skills in the nicest
way possible. With an MA in VFX, I wish I could balance my time more evenly between illustration, 3D art, and effects. There are countless tools and software I’d love to master. But rather than discouraging me, seeing incredible projects from others inspires me; it pushes me to refine my direction and grow.
I’m endlessly curious, always wanting to learn, explore, and create more. Ultimately, I want my art to expand beyond itself, to exist in many forms, and invite people to truly be part of it.”
“Sure it has. I think it’s natural to see someone else win and find yourself slipping into negative thoughts like “Oh, they’ve already hit this career mark! Why haven’t I? I’m so behind?” and so on – let the spiraling commence! I’ve learned however that no good ever comes from comparing oranges to apples. We all have a different purpose in life, with different upbringings, support systems, and life situations, so that helps me put things into perspective. It’s taken some unlearning, catching, and calling myself out when I do this.
If I ever feel the urge to compare, I’ll try to think of my younger self at the start of my career, and acknowledge that we’ve achieved so much! She’d be proud.”
“I have never felt envy. I am quite indifferent to others. Envy and anger certainly carry powerful energy, but within any strength there is also weakness. There is only one destination that jealousy leads to and that is futility. Still, even heading there can be an experience in itself. If one can enjoy jealousy, I think that it can be a beneficial emotion, because it can evolve into admiration – and admiration can lead to personal growth. In that way, it no longer remains meaningless.
So, I believe that if you can tame jealousy or envy, then you should. But if you cannot harness such emotions, then it is better not to cultivate and focus on those feelings at all.”
