Today we’d like to introduce you to Sunny Wu.
Sunny, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been drawing since I was two years old, but never truly thought I could grow up, be an artist, and make money from it. I wasn’t sure about applying for art colleges until I was months away from application deadlines. I ended up going to the School of Visual Arts in New York City with nearly a full ride for my BFA in Illustration. After graduation, I felt like I still needed a creative space to learn and grow into the illustrator that I wanted to be, so without really much thinking, I enrolled myself into an Illustration MA in Plymouth, England. At this point, I’ve been doing YouTube for the past year, vlogging my life in NYC as an art student, and filming myself creating. When I got to England, my freelance illustration career started growing, with jobs like Buzzfeed, VICE, and New York Magazine coming in. I’m now finishing up my MA and installing my pieces at the gallery for the Graduation Show. The past couple of months, I’ve gained some new clients: WeTransfer, NBC, MODES Designer, Running Press Books, and I’ve reached 100k on my Youtube channel. Although some months are slower, I feel so grateful of the growth I’ve experienced from my art career, allowing me to focus my time and energy on creating.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am still at the beginning of my artistic career and life in general, so I have no doubts that I will face struggles. I’ve been lucky to have family and friends that have been supportive and encouraging of my work, so that has made it easy to say the least. I think the struggle will always be whether or not you’re getting as much work as you need to survive and does your work gets paid enough for what it is.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an illustrator and mainly work digitally on Procreate. I would say my style is vibrant, feminine, and elaborate. Printmaking fascinates me, so when I’m unable to silkscreen or riso print an illustration, I attempt to digitally manipulate the effect so it looks like it’s a bit misaligned and grainy.
I love capturing raw and natural moments of women. It’s the moment when they’re unaware that someone is watching them when they’re completely comfortable wedged inside their messy room or stretching their limbs on grassy plains. I also love drawing cowboy boots on them; I feel the most confident when I wear mine 🙂
I grew up seeing a lot of Caucasian characters in illustration and media, and when I was younger, I used to draw them as well. But as I got older, I started to feel like I should illustrate and represent what I identify and relate to as a Chinese-American. I hope that younger Asian Americans can see that illustrations are visual stories for anyone to tell.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think the illustration industry is shifting towards movement. Illustration as a whole or part of the illustration may have stop motion incorporated in. Although I would like to see traditional art having a comeback, I do believe that in the next 5-10 years, illustration will be made through digital mediums, with trends of bright, colorful palettes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sunny-wu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bysunnywu/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sunnykabocha
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BySunnyWu
Image Credits
Image 2 is La Danse by Henri Matisse in my style
