• What country are you born in?
The Netherlands.

• At what age did you started drawing?
16 (2009)

• Did you go to any art school for that?
No

• Did you have other artistic lessons you followed to be able to draw like this?
No.

• What did you want to be when you were little?
Veterinary, animal carer or fashion designer.

• What does your name mean?
The name ‘Rajacenna’ is invented by my mother and had to be officially approved by the Dutch municipality. It was a not existing name in the world at that particular moment.
It is a combination of three different names: Ravenna/Jaco (father)/Celesta (mother).
Ra= RAvenna/ja=JAco/ce=CElesta/nna=raveNNA

• When did you start drawing with 2 hands at the same time?
In 2019 I started drawing with both hands. I didn’t draw a lot for a while because of health issues; I even didn’t draw at all for three whole years between 2011-2014. That got me frustrated a and I wanted to find a way to be more productive and make up for the lost years. I also wanted to challenge myself a bit more and practice in a creative way so I started working on multiple drawings and suddenly I had the idea to use both my hands.

• What kind of music playlist is playing when you draw like that?

Classical music, instrumental music from movies or series, or a playlist with a combination of it all and sometimes albums but most of the time I listen to audiobooks.

I prefer to listen to audiobooks the most. I love to focus on the stories and at the same time create art. My most favorite book is Harry Potter. Furthermore I listen to all kinds of biography audiobooks and romans.

Also I like lectures and educational audio books about the galaxy and the star systems for example. I also listen to history audiobooks and about ongoing world topics and dive into all kinds of different view points on them. I then often listen podcasts about them.

• Is there any reason why you are drawing/painting upside down?

I came up with the idea to draw upside down because I did live-streaming and thought it was better for the viewer to see drawings so they see exactly what I was working on. Also I love to draw upside down to make it more difficult for myself and learn from it in a different and effective way. I see it more like a drawing exercise and it’s also very helpful to look at your own drawings from different perspectives. You can focus more on the shapes you actually see and not what you think you see.

• How long did it take for you to complete 8 portraits with both hands and feet?

It took me more that 40 hours to create 8 artworks.

FAQ will be updated with new questions and answers. You can always send in yours to fanmail @ rajacenna.com