RA FRIDAY - RA TITTLE-TATTLE WITH HEATHER , AKA HEATHDANCES!

I'm afraid, I'm not discussing how disturbingly hot this new Strike Back Viral video was to me. Though I had to gag red-self and lock her in the wardrobe. I told her we were going to Narnja but she's still shouting from there histerically. She is definitely not Alice (Vicar of Dibley) .

She wants me to talk about this vid. No way. It gave me nightmares and I have no intention to go on watching Mr Wet T-shirt and experience horrible unrest at night! But if you and her (my red self, I mean) want to go on  watching it just click here.

Ok, then! Welcome to a special issue of my RA Friday. What’s better than talking about your faves with friends and pals when you are on holiday? So,  to celebrate the beginning of my desperately-longed-for summer holidays, here’s on Fly High my tittle- tattle with Heather, one of the loveliest, most talented and most popular among RA fans.

(Heather and me chatting on the sofa? Watching RA as John Porter?

No, her cuties: Teddy and Lily!)

I’ve had the pleasure to meet her on Twitter but I already admired and followed her on Utube, C19 and her livejournal page. She’s American, young and very creative. She’s someone I’m immensely proud to feature as my guest on my blog and someone who is a myth to any RA fan: Heather, aka Heathdances or Heathra. Here’s my interview with her. The videos added to this post are by Heather and she herself chose the RA photos you can admire here.

Hi,  Heather,  and welcome on Fly High! Visiting   your livejournal  or  "" Utube channel  one finds these few lines about yourself:

Hi! My name is Heather. Welcome to my livejournal! You will find on here my graphics, videos, and hopefully some tutorials. I currently live in Southern California and I work as a graphic designer. ;-) A lot of my fan graphics and videos you will notice feature the actor Richard Armitage. Hope you like what you see and thanks for stopping by!
To all of us, RA admirers and supporters nothing more counts and your name is just enough. But are there any other things which are important to you and you would like to add?

I feel like a little celebrity when you say it like that! ;-) Well, God, my Family and Friends. :-) They are the most important to me in life. I have a pretty big family and we are all really close. I don't know where I would be without my loving parents. They are my biggest supporters in life and encourage me all the time.

California is a symbolical part of the US linked to the American Dream. What is living there like? What is it to you?

I was born and raised here, so I guess I don't know any different! I am extremely fortunate to live in south Orange County, which is in Southern California. I can't imagine living anywhere else but perhaps England? ha ha ha! I live 10 minutes from the beach and an hour south of LA. Although, I have to admit LA is not all it's cracked up to be. I think New York City and London are A LOT nicer. And of course the area I live in is too! ;-) All I can say is I am really grateful to live here and grew up with a wonderful loving family.

I had everything I needed growing up, but at the same time worked hard to achieve a lot of things. Nothing was handed to me on a silver platter. When I set my mind to do something and have a goal, I achieve it. I think that is really important.

You work as a graphic designer and you use your skills in a very creative way in the RA fandom , where you get lots of admiration and appreciation yourself. But did you start learning graphic designing in a school then used what you learnt as a form of entertainment or are you self –taught, started as an amateur and then became a professionist?

I am pretty much self taught. I did go to a University and I got my BA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design, but they don't teach you how to use the programs. They expect you to already know how to use the programs and then they want to see what your concept and ideas are and critique you on your artwork. So, I learned how to use Illustrator, Photoshop, etc on my own. I am still learning! It is a constant learning process, because these programs always change and you have to keep yourself updated. I had to take a lot of the foundation classes in college before the graphic classes. Foundation meaning, beginning drawing, painting, life drawing, etc. I think I am a lot better now than I was in school. I think doing fan graphics have helped increase my skills as a graphic artist. Right now I am a freelance graphic artist. I do a lot of package design at the moment. :-)

You are still young and , of course, you’ve got dreams and ambitions. What do you want to achieve in your working field?

I feel like a lot of the people doing what I do and being more successful are younger than me! LOL I got started late though. I have always been the late bloomer. I didn't graduate until I was 27 from college and now I am 30. I am trying to set 5 year big goals and little ones along the way. For so long my goal was to get my college degree but now that I have accomplished that I set new ones. I think it is important to set goals throughout your life and I try and do that. Sometimes it can be as simple as running a 5K in a month. Which I did and plan to run a 10K next year. :-) In 5 years I would like my business to be more successful, get married and hopefully have a baby (I hear RA is available! LOL kidding!). I like working from home and having my own business and I really want to try and build up that business in the next couple of years. I have even thought about doing video editing. I would love to make trailers for movies or edit music videos. I really love video editing as much as I do my graphics. They are both serious passions of mine. They say to do what you love! No one says I can't do both! ;-)

 Let’s go back to your creative skills. When did you start creating graphics and music vid?

Well, I fell in love with creating graphics when I was 19 and just starting in college. I went to a community college before I transferred to a University because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I always loved art and I knew I excelled at it and also liked being on the computer so I took a graphic design class and did really well in it and was at the top of my class at my community college. I really loved it so I decided to pursue that. Then, I transferred to a University to major in Art. I started creating music videos about a year and a half before I graduated from my University. I was inspired by some Pride & Prejudice videos on YouTube and decided to try doing one myself. One became two and so on! LOL It was very addicting and I love it. During my first year of vidding I took a Motion Graphics class at my University and I did so well the teacher told me I should be doing this for a living. I thought wow I have never heard that before! There is a lot of criticism in art school. I think it keeps us from getting big heads! LOL It was one of my few classes that I felt I really excelled in at my University because in all my other art classes I got good grades but I wasn't the top art student. I was more the middle of the road, but in Motion Graphics I was at the top which felt great! ha ha There was a lot of competition just like with everything in life.

Which one of Richard Armitage’s characters was the first one you hit it off with? Was it JT as for many of us? Or was it Guy , since you are younger and maybe met Richard as Guy first?

Like most it was John Thornton! It was the first thing I saw Richard in and when they first showed him standing there in the mill I was a goner! That was it! He had me! LOL Robin Hood had not come out yet but it did later that year. I saw him as JT in April 2006, sad how I know the month and year. ha ha ha Then in October is around when the first season of Robin Hood came out and then Vicar of Dibley during Christmas and New Years! Yep, he just kept luring me in with all this! LOL

I love your videos especially

1. Lucas North Fix you

2. Lucas North Maps of the Problematique

3. Strike Back/John Porter/Richard Armitage Video. Well, this is my Heathra production top 3 Which is yours? I mean, is there any of your vids you are particularly proud of or you are emotionally attached to? Your vids are stunning. Perfect sync, perfect choice of song, perfect matching of lyrics and images. Where do you usually start from? The song, the images, a title?

*blushes* Aww that is so sweet! I really am flattered and I still can't believe the responses I get from my videos. I never thought they would be as popular as they are. I just enjoy making them, so thank you very much! It really means a lot to me. :-)

 

Lucas North "Fix You" is probably my favorite video to this day. I am very emotionally attached to that video. I cried after I finished it. It was my therapy video and I made it when I was having a rough time in my life. The song also means a lot to me. I wrote something about it in the description of the video on YouTube. :-)




  
When I make my videos I start with a song. I usually pick songs that I feel emotionally connected to. The song really triggers the video, and I visualize the images in my head while listening to the song and it seems to be Richard related images most of the time! ha ha

 I love watching RA’s interviews and you’ve got some on your channel. One of them dates back to 2007 and tells about a very special fan Richard admired for her creativity. She designed a brilliant Havoc Tour T-shirt inspired to Gisborne. Do you know her? Joking , of course! Anyone knows it was you, Heather! My real question is… They were meant for charity. Are they still available? And where?

YES they were! Well, after Richard mentioned it everyone wanted one so we decided to sell other items, making Richard's shirt the only one because we wanted it to be unique. We sold mugs, journals, posters, postcards, and mouse pads with the design on them (after some alteration) and all the proceeds went to charity. I can't take all the credit though. I designed his shirt, but there were a couple of friends who came up the initial idea with the tour dates and cities. It was a group effort. :-) We intended to sell the stuff for a limited time but it is still open for purchase. ;-) http://www.cafepress.com/havoc_tour is the link! I will never forget that experience and that day he mentioned it. I never thought something like that would happen and it still makes me giddy and on cloud 9 thinking about it to this day!

 In a symbolical banner for my blog I’d put Richard of course, but also books, costume films and Jane Austen . This means I have to ask you also something about my other interests… Do you like reading? What kind of books? And what about period drama?

I love reading! I love all the Harry Potter books, Jane Austen, Twilight saga. I especially love reading Avon Romance novels! he he I love the period romance ones. My favorite romance author is Lisa Kleypas. I have all her books, and every time she comes out with a new one I rush out to buy it! LOL I also love Stephanie Laurens, and Elizabeth Hoyt. I love period drama books they are the ones I find myself reading all the time. Of course I love period drama films! Pride & Prejudice and North & South are my two favorite!

You said you also love the Twilight saga. What’s the appeal of this series according to you? What is it that you especially like in it?

I like the romance part of it. Most definitely that is the biggest appeal of it for me. I am an Edward & Bella fan all the way! I hope to make a Twilight video sometime in the near future. I also love the danger, heroic aspect of it and the angst. I live for angst and the whole "we shouldn't be together because I am a vampire and you're human". It makes it exciting!

Back to your creations. I know many fans of Richard’s and yours are fond of your Sexy Back series. Is there a third episode coming out soon?

Yes, there is! I know people have been waiting for it for a long time. I apologize to everyone! I wanted to wait until Strike Back came out so I could use clips from there and I have had to re-convert all of my clips because I am using a Mac and Final Cut Pro. Plus, I have had a lot going on with my life lately that I just haven't been able to do it. I just bought a 2 TB external hard drive so I can store all my clips on that now which will help! I plan to do it before the summer is over because I know a lot of people are anxiously awaiting it! ;-)

 My final question is… if you ever happened to meet Richard anywhere… How would you react? How would you introduce yourself? What would you ask him?

I know I would be really nervous and shy. I would probably stand there with my mouth open just staring at him! LOL I would definitely have to practice what to say to him if I ever did meet him. I am such a dork when it comes to things like this! ha ha. I think if I could ever manage to say anything to the lovely man I would try and mention something about me designing his Havoc Tour t-shirt and try not to sound like a squeeing fan girl! I don't want to embarrass myself and want to try to be as calm, cool and collective as possible! LOL I doubt that will happen! Ha ha!

Well, prepare yourself to the shock, Heather! Get ready to be pretty embarassed. It seems Richard is planning to go to LA by the end of this year. Let us know if you meet him! And of course ... thanks a lot for taking your time and answering my questions! It's been great to have you here!