Today we’d like to introduce you to Audrey Yeo.
Audrey, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
As typical as it sounds, I started creating since I was a very little girl, and I don’t mean the crayon scribbles and finger painting stuff my mother still keeps. I remember actually doing some fairly elaborate works. One of them was making a dimensional Gameboy out of paper (Gameboys were the thing then but I didn’t own one at that time), I even made a slot at the side that allowed me to change paper screens so I wouldn’t get bored looking at the same screen. I could draw on paper any game I wanted and then insert it into the Gameboy. As a kid, that meant I owned every game imaginable, and that made me very happy.
Further down the road when I became a teenager, I fell in love with street art. Sticker art in particular ignited my pursuit of art. Before I ever went to art school, I began designing my own stickers – traditionally and digitally – and would trade them with hundreds of street artists in the sticker art community all over the world.
At 17, I started on a three years diploma course in Singapore majoring in Animation at Nanyang Polytechnic. This foundation in animation benefited me a lot. However, as an animation student at that time, I felt a sense of restlessness doing what I was doing. I began taking up a number of freelance illustration projects and spent a good amount of my time working on those projects rather than focusing on my studies.
When I graduated with an Animation diploma in 2010, I joined a boutique motion graphics company in Singapore without really knowing much about the field of Motion Graphics. It was a very interesting part of my life because I started out as a designer without any knowledge of the techniques, software and industry lingo to describe the work I was producing. I simply learned the foundations of motion graphics outside of a school setting and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
While at the job, I managed to develop a decent portfolio and tried applying to my local university in Singapore to further my studies but I was rejected. And so I patiently spent another year at my job trying to improve my skills and expand my client base, hoping to be accepted into the university with a stronger portfolio and resume. At this point, I was producing works that had already been shown commercially on TV not just in my home country Singapore, but regionally as well. Thinking that I had a good chance, I applied to the same university a second time. I was again rejected. It was then that I decided to apply to universities outside of Singapore. Many opportunities came my way but the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) offered me a full scholarship which I gratefully accepted.
Upon graduating from SCAD, I became a full-time designer at my dream company, Buck and currently work there as an Art Director.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My job entails designing, illustrating, and directing motion projects for TV, web, and mobile platforms. While that sounds awfully vague, it’s because the advertising industry transcends so many mediums. As technology develops and digital platforms continue to grow in sophistication, the scope to produce motion graphics to communicate messages expands. Advertisements can come in the form of just about anything and so I design for all sorts of digital experiences.
My personal artworks also vary greatly, depending on my mood. I am innately curious and do not like to be constrained by techniques. This means that I tend to approach personal works with no end result in mind, making things up as I go along. When I feel chaos in me, I produce a work that may be scribbly or heavily textured. Conversely, when I am at peace and when my surroundings are organized, the style of my illustration reflects that. I do not stick to one style just because people respond to it more. As a very introspective person, my personal works can thus be considered an examination of my soul at a given point in time.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I am not an island, but the sum of my diverse experiences with different people across different times and spaces. When we peel back the layers, a lot of the social issues we are confronted with today arise because we tend not to converge on our common humanity but instead focus on our superficial differences. So to the extent that I have been given the opportunity to experience different cultures as well as the ability to engage with others via the medium of art, I do feel the need to use art meaningfully. Some years ago, I created a work in response to xenophobic sentiments and as a tribute to the silent contributions of migrant workers globally. I hope to build on that as I develop as an artist.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My personal site: audreyyeo.com
I also have my work on Holdframe, an educational platform where you can purchase project files put up by the animation and motion community. You can find my project here: https://www.holdframe.com/mybrother
When you purchase a product from the Market, majority of the proceeds go directly to the artists. Every year, I pick a charity to donate 100% of what I receive.
Contact Info:
- Website: audreyyeo.com
Image Credit:
Photographer: Alan Yeo
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
