scroll down to read our interview with the fantastic illustrator Min Heo, her work is truly incredible; while using intricate details and designs she still manages to include a childlike essence in her pieces, her vibrant color palette contributes as one of the main factors to why we love her work <3
crayon magazine Min Heo
to start off, we’d like to thank you for agreeing to this, you’re so talented and we’re so happy we get to feature you on our magazine, so to begin with; how did you start your journey in the art world, have you always been interested in art, or is the art community new to you ? I’ve always loved drawing since I was a child, although I never thought I’d do it professionally. Somehow or other, I ended up going to art school majoring in illustration. I wasn’t even sure what “illustration” was at the time, all I knew was that it involved drawing. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve been fortunate enough to find work as an illustrator. so tell us about your account, when did you start it and what was your goal as an artist? I started it back in 2016 to share my art. It was mostly to connect with my friends at the beginning, but now the platform has become a vital tool for myself and many other creatives to share their work and reach a larger audience. can you tell us about your favorite artists and how they’ve influenced your current work? I have so many favorite artists, it’s difficult to list them all out, but off the top of my head: Edward Gorey, Matisse, Jillian Tamaki, Hiller Goodspeed, Yoshitomo Nara, Misaki Kawai, David Hockney… love each of these artists for different reasons. Some I love for their vibrant color palette, others for their humor, or and some for just the way they see the world. Little bits and pieces of that find their way into my current work. can you tell us about your experience as an artist on social media? In my early years, I was very resistant to the idea of posting on social media. It felt like I was “selling out” or crying out for attention. But I slowly realized that just stemmed from my own insecurities and anxieties about putting myself out there and sharing my art. It can be scary, you know! thankfully, I’ve become much more relaxed about it after doing the 100-day project. Forcing myself to post something every single day, even things that weren’t 100% perfect, was the best way to learn that it’s all just a process and a way to share my art. I also didn’t get hung up on likes/followers because there was no time! I had to draw something for the next day! since then, I’ve been posting consistently every week and it’s been great. I still get nervous about posting sometimes, but I no longer feel resistant to the idea of social media. how do you think having a platform shaped your current perception of the art community? I love seeing the diversity out there on social media. It’s really opened the way for so many creatives and especially young people to learn and share their art without going through an expensive art school. can you elaborate on your current art style and if it changed over time? My current art style is pencil drawings that are colored digitally. I draw lots of women and cute animals with sassy attitudes. I wish I could give a better description than that, but honestly, I’m mostly drawing random thoughts that pop into my head haha. If you scroll through my feed, you can see I used to do all digital with no line art at the beginning of my Instagram journey. Then I transitioned into doing colored pencil drawings and then into tiny gouache paintings. At some point, I was moving and starting a new job and had less and less time to commit to making full-blown drawings for Instagram. Due to that, I moved into doing more pen and pencil line art which has evolved to line art with digital color. Your art style is something that’s going to be continuously changing throughout your life. Please don’t feel like you have to find one style and that’s it. I personally love seeing how artists change their work throughout the years, it feels like I’m getting a glimpse into their thought processes. so tell us about your work experiences? have you ever had an art-related job or position? I currently work full time at Google as an illustrator while juggling freelancing on the side. Other art-related jobs I’ve had including being a teaching assistant at my art school and also teaching kids art during the summers. But I’ve mostly been doing freelancing since I’ve graduated. That has included jobs like illustrations for children’s books, newspapers/magazines, and illustration branding for a bunch of different companies.