The Learning Zone

Tell us a little about yourself?

I am an illustration student going into my third year. I like to draw whimsical characters and environments inspired by nature or surrealist paintings. My favourite mediums to work with are inks, watercolour, graphite and pencil crayons. Recently, I’ve been enjoying the process of creating textures using ink washes which I then like to scan and colour digitally.

What influenced your decision to major in Illustration?

I don’t think there was one specific moment or person that influenced my decision to pursue art. However, I remember one of my teachers asking us to envision one thing we see ourselves doing for the rest of our lives, and the answer, for me, was drawing.

I chose illustration because I always liked the storytelling aspect of illustration. In high school, I volunteered at a local art hub near my home, and I met a few artists who graduated from OCAD. Some of them had majored in illustration, and I liked their artworks, so I would ask them questions about how the program was. Their experiences at the school left a remarkable impression on me, which helped me decide on illustration as a major.

Who is your favourite Illustrator?

Victo Ngai is one of my favourite illustrators. She does illustrations for newspapers and magazines, book covers, and packaging and advertising campaigns. What I love most about her work is the surreal atmosphere composed of whimsical characters and playful environments. Her process inspired me to play around with unique perspectives to tell a story.

Rovina Cai and Zoe Van Dijk are two other illustrators whose work I admire. I really enjoy Zoe Van Diijk work because her process inspires me because I enjoy drawing with ink and experimenting with washes to get textures.

How do you discover illustrators?

I discover illustrators mainly through social media such as Instagram and Pinterest. I also look through the Design Annual books like American Illustration and Society of Illustrators annuals in the library for inspiration. For one of my classes, I used Artstor Digital Library to search for historical artists who impacted art movements.