For this last month of this year, I have interviewed Anna Sun. I came across her through Instagram and was amazed by hew work and great style. I did not hesitate to contact her for a Career Inspiration interview that I run on the blog and she was willing to spend her time to share some of her insight. For more work of Anna, check her instagram or behance portfolio!
1.Introduce us
a bit about yourself and your background.
Hello everyone, my name is Anna Sun and I am a multidisciplinary
designer. I do mostly graphic design, illustration and lettering. Sometimes I
find myself giving interviews to cool bloggers like right
2. Are you a
full time designer and illustrator or freelancer?
Both J I am a part-time designer at a
branding/packaging design agency based in Prague, I am also finishing my second
degree in graphic design this year and I freelance as well.
3. Tell us
more about how and what driven you into designing and illustrating.
I have always known my life would be somehow related to art, because it
has been my passion since I was a child. I finished art school, and then got my
first degree, which was in architecture. But we also had classes on graphic
design and branding and I realized I had much more passion for that than for interior
design and architecture. I started pushing my desires further, drawing more and
more…and here we are J
4. What kind
of designing do you do?
I am a multidisciplinary designer and I am open to any types of designing.
I get very excited when I get to work with something new. But usually we do
branding and packaging design at the agency and as a freelancer I mostly do
illustrations, editorial design and branding.
5. Where have
you learned and developed your skills in illustrating? How long did it take you
to the stage as you are now?
Drawing has been a non-stop process since I was little. I spent nine
years in art school, then I attended university majoring in design of
architectural environment, on my spare time I was painting wooden accessories,
painting clothes, learning how to draw with graphics tablet on computer…illustration
is just something I have always been passionate about and something I would do
just for fun. But now when I think about it, I would say that really
intensively I have been illustrating during the last four years only, because
that is when I bought my first tablet and started making digital illustrations.
6. Where do
you seek for inspiration? / What / Who inspires you?
It really depends and can be basically anything. I often get inspired by
cinematography, that is for sure, and travelling! Other designers or just cool
people from art related industries, just random people whose way of thinking or
living I find interesting… Inspiration starts with you being ready to create, I
think. Then subconsciously you keep looking for things to give you an idea and
the most random things just start grabbing your attention. Because all the good
stuff will pass you by unnoticed if you aren’t willing to do anything with it
and create something. So to stay inspired I try to keep myself happy, positive
and cheerful, because inspiration never comes to you when you are depressed…at
least not to me J
7. You have
very specific art of a fashion illustrating, how would you describe your style?
It is very hard to describe anything about yourself hahah But all my illustrations are very graphical, it is clean and sharp line work with expressive strokes and some coloring, often watercolor.
It is very hard to describe anything about yourself hahah But all my illustrations are very graphical, it is clean and sharp line work with expressive strokes and some coloring, often watercolor.
8. What do
you do besides designing and calligraphy?
I like photography and lately I have been really into video making. I
even started my YouTube channel, it is really a side project right now, so
there is not a lot of content yet.
9. You do
variety of creative things, such as designing as you have mentioned on your
instagram, illustrating and also calligraphy. What do you enjoy the most doing?
I like experimenting and mixing media. Typography is one of the most recent
passions of mine, it is something I have been enjoying practicing for fun for
the last couple of years. I like manual work just as digital, I feel like there
is more soul in things crafted by hand first and then digitally finalized, it takes
more dedication and effort. Mixing media is more fun, I think, it is a new
journey every time, you can be more creative when you mix techniques and media
and every time you work with something new you also learn something. That is
also amazing! I am excited to work with all sorts of arts, to be honest with
you!
10. What
techniques do you use?
Usually projects and concepts dictate techniques to use, so I go for
those which would work the best for a particular project. Most of the times I
do all the work digitally in Photoshop and Illustrator, when it comes to
illustrations, but typographical pieces usually start with handwriting and
sketching on paper and then I digitalize them.
11. What are
you looking goals in your career?
My goal would be, probably, to develop a unique style in terms of both
conceptual thinking and execution, and get to work on remarkable projects. I am
a big fan of Pentagram design agency, if I ever land a job there I would be the
happiest person :)
12. Any
work/projects or collaborations that you are proud of?
Not that I have any signature project to be known for and to be especially
proud of so far, but I believe, the coolest project I have worked on was
LaPelicula Spanish Film Festival 2015. It is an annual festival running in
Czech Republic. My design was chosen among other designers' proposals and it
did not get changed significantly by the moment of release. Posters and ads and
flyers were everywhere! They made festival opening sequence based on my design,
and I remember I went to the movies and saw my design animated on the big
screen. That was a very special moment for me :)
13. Any
inspiration quote or message you would like to share with readers?Try to enjoy everything you do and be curious about this world, keep your
mind open and inspiration will never leave you. It is all about little things
after all.
All photos taken from her instagram and behance portfolio
Find me as well on facebook /twitter /instagram /bloglovin' /tumblr /shop my closet /photography /ask me
4 Comments
Wonderful illustrations!
ReplyDeletehttp://beautyfollower.blogspot.gr/
Wow what and interesting and also inspiring inteview! Beutiful work...
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm going straight to your other articles ...:)
These paintings are amazing.
ReplyDeletewww.tobecreativehasnolimits.blogspot.com
Veľmi sa mi páčia tieto ilustrácie - sú úžasné !
ReplyDeletexoxo -T
aestaste blog