Today we’d like to introduce you to Hana Eunjin Yean.
Hana Eunjin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until I was 14. The culture surrounding education in Korea is a bit different from that in America. Students in Korea enroll in tutoring and private classes really early on. To keep up with the other kids, I had to take many classes outside of school. I was taking classes in Math, English, reading, music, and art. My days in Korea were so busy. I didn’t really enjoy going to these additional private classes, and although I always complained a lot to my parents, I never complained about going to art classes and really found love in creating art. I didn’t have to think about being right or wrong, I just enjoyed creating something tangible solely with my imagination. So since then, it was a natural path for me to keep drawing.
I studied art in three different cities – first in Korea, then in Toronto, Canada during high school, then in Los Angeles. Living in different cities and experiencing different cultures shaped me into the artist I currently am.
I learned the basics of drawing and painting and practice to be really technical and illustrate/paint realistically in Korea. We did a lot of still life and portraits in school and I was graded on how realistic I could paint and draw. Then when I moved to Toronto, I was challenged to create something on my own rather than copying something from real life. It opened a new chapter for me and made me realize art wasn’t all about being able to depict something realistically – it could also be about the thought behind the art and it doesn’t need to be technical. It was long after I moved to LA to in Art Center College of Design that I started to realize what I really wanted to do with art. I liked to tell stories with my drawings to convey emotions with various mediums. I found out through classes at school that there’s an industry called motion graphics, where I could tell stories through different mediums and styles depending on the project. I met amazing mentors and classmates at school that helped me get into the industry and the place where I’m at.
One of the mentors I met in school, Paul B Kim, took our class to Gentleman Scholar, a motion graphics studio, at the end of the term to show us what working at a studio is actually like. We were all amazed by their work and wanted to somehow work at the studio in the future. Luckily after the visit, I got to talk to the Owner/Creative Directors from Gentleman Scholar and got an internship next term. From then on, I’ve been working there ever since! It’s already my fourth year at Gentleman Scholar, I did three years as a designer and now I’m currently working as an Art Director at the company. I really enjoy designing and art directing design-driven content. I hope to continue growing as an artist and as a good art director creating fun stuff!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think it has been moderately smooth with some bumpiness in between. I think I am very lucky that I found what I like to do at an early age and can make a living from the work that I really enjoy doing. The thing I struggled with the most as an artist was breaking out of my own comfort zone. I used to always unconsciously make things similar to what I’ve made before because I was afraid to make a mistake or I was worried that my work might not turn out to be as good as other people’s work. I saw myself doing the same thing over and over and stopped growing because I was only doing things that I was already comfortable with. I tried hard to break out of the box I created. I talked with the mentors I met in school, looked at more inspirations and art, and studied and learned from the work I liked. I slowly forced myself out of the comfort zone and got comfortable at trying new things and accepted that it’s okay to not make good art all the time.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m currently an Art Director at a motion graphic studio called Gentleman Scholar. I design and direct design-driven commercials in various industries. I do a lot of different things depending on the style of a project. I sometimes design for 3D animations creating the world with characters, environments, props, and such. Sometimes I design for 2D illustrative projects, from planning out the storyboard to creating style fun styleframes. Sometimes I get put on more graphic-based projects, creating graphic elements like type lock-ups and logos, helping out the campaign for the clients. I love that I can use different styles and methods in different projects to find the perfect style/tone to showcase a campaign for each brand.
I think my advantage is that I’m a multi-disciplinary designer. Being in the industry and working at Gentleman Scholar has trained me well to adapt quickly to the new problems and styles that I was thrown into. My strongest forte is still 2D illustration and that’s what I enjoy doing the most, but I take pride in the fact that I can be useful in any project.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
Hmm, I definitely don’t want to start over. That means I would have to go through everything again if I started over! But if I had to, I would have worked on my public speaking skills more in school. During college, I hated doing presentations and talking in front of classes. First, I was never really good at it and second, I didn’t think it was very important to me. I thought if I could create the visual really well, I didn’t need the words to explain it because the art could speak for itself.
But after I started working, I realized that I was wrong and realized the importance of being able to communicate my ideas through words. It was way more important and harder than I thought it was. So looking back, I would’ve tried harder and really worked on my speaking skills in school. When you’re a student, it’s actually okay to make mistakes and learn from it. But I wouldn’t change anything else other than that.
Contact Info:
- Website: hanayean.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/hanayean/
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
