What is it like to be a part of the senior hut? How do you feel about receiving the Medal? How did you receive the news?

"I initially thought I had a lot of messages from seniors when I took a quick scroll through my message center. But my message center is usually a crowded mess, so I didn't think too much of it at the time. It took me a while to realize that it was actually my username that had the icon (I wasn't really awake yet). And when I did I initially assumed it was some kind of software bug in DeviantArt that somehow loaded the wrong icon with my name.
It didn't really get through until I saw the announcement and then I was pretty much baffled. I still am.
Up until not too long ago I used to think that all seniors were retired DeviantArt volunteers, and I didn't even know there was a possibility to 'get' seniority when you never were a volunteer. So yeah, I was pretty much surprised.
I think it's rather sweet someone has actually taken the time and effort to write the staff a message about me and recommended me for such a thing. That alone is cute in itself "

Haha! Sounds like you had a great time.
You are a big inspiration for many deviants. Do you have any tips and tricks for other deviants to improve their art skills? Any tutorials you can recomment?  

"Well, people all learn different things at a different pacing. What works for one person, might not work for another. So do whatever works for you and whatever keeps you most motivated.
I see many professionals preaching for long hours of practice. But while this might be the fastest way to actually improve, it's for many people hard to maintain motivation when on such a harsh schedule. What worked best for me was to combine practice with drawing the things that I liked to draw. So combining various hard poses (anatomy-wise) with my own characters, that I naturally enjoy drawing. It's easier to stay motivated that way.
As for tutorials. I tend to keep a collection of what I think are interesting tutorials in my favorites:
damaimikaz.deviantart.com/favo…
And if I may recommend something off-site, these 2 youtube channels helped me a lot:
www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV
www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL"

Thank you for sharing these links
You also write compelling articles that have helped other deviants tremendously, how do you find the right topics to write about, what is your trail of thought prior to sitting down to write one of them?

"It's funny that you mention the articles. Before I started posting art at DeviantArt, I used to do a lot of writing. All of it in my native language, though, so that explains why most people never saw me write. The many years or writing more or less caused my thinking and writing process to synchronize. I can write down what I think without much hesitation. It just comes out that way. As for the subjects; I think too much
I'm generally a curious person that's interested in a lot of topic and reads a lot of information, both in books and on the internet. It makes me think, and then I come up with another topic. Mostly it just starts with a subject or a line or two. And then I let it be in my stash for the time being until I've thought about it a bit more."

What has been so far the most rewarding thing you can remember, that happened as a result of these articles you write?

"I've been here for so long that it's hard to pinpoint just one thing that was the most rewarding. I think getting the senior membership was a cool thing, because made me feel like people supported me. But it's usually the small things that do it for me. The messages that I get from people that are total strangers to me and that took all that time and effort to write a really long message to me to say how I inspired them to go on with their art or their life. Or how something I said in one of my articles helped them push through a hard time in life.
For me, things like that mean so much more than just an award, or just a number of pageviews. Because it's so much more personal than that, and it pretty much goes beyond DeviantArt just being a website. "

Thank you very much for the interview! Do you have anything you wish to share with us? Any Last words?

"Not really.
I guess most have been said for now. Thanks for the interview and have a good day "