Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eray Zhang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Eray thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Looking back on my growth journey, I would never have achieved what I have without the support of my parents. At the time, my interest in fashion design came as a sudden surprise to them.

On a flight back to China from the United States, I found myself unable to sleep and accidentally stumbled upon the Project Runway channel on the plane’s TV. I never would have guessed that this brief 13-hour would change my life’s plans from that point on.

After I explained my idea to my parents, they were confused as to why I had suddenly set my sights on that particular goal, but still supportive of my dream and began searching for the requirements and ways to apply to design schools abroad. Today, I am still grateful to have such open-minded and supportive parents. If they had not agreed to my studying fashion design or sent me to study abroad in the United States, there would be no me here today, taking this interview.

Eray, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The thing I’m most proud of is my illustration. Compared to my first hand-drawn works, I like creating with Procreate better. This all started during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. All my school classes were moved online then, and I was scared of getting sick so I didn’t dare to go out. I spent all day at home, bored out of my mind, so I bought an iPad to pass the time by drawing and got hooked on it. The pandemic gave me enough time and chances to learn how to work with procreate by myself, I became good at using it in a very short time. I enjoy the time when I’m drawing. Even, to a large extent, my original intention and love for the fashion design major came from my passion for drawing.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the most essential qualities in the creative industry is the ability to embrace rejection and possess the confidence and courage to start anew.
Taking my own experience as an example, when I was applying for university, my first project involved creating a mood board. As a student newly entering the field of design and creativity, it was quite challenging to break free from conventional thinking patterns and generate innovative ideas. This led me to struggle significantly at the outset of developing my mood board. Initially, I found myself unable to produce anything meaningful, after extensive contemplation, the topic selection and mood board concepts I presented were outright rejected by my teacher who expressed discomfort with them and even questioned whether I truly had potential in design. Nevertheless, I resolved not to give up easily. After careful consideration, I decided to abandon both my original topic and all prior work in favor of exploring a completely new idea from scratch. This time around, I deviated from traditional methods by crafting a three-dimensional mood board using materials such as wood and paint. My teacher was very pleased with this output. For me, this experience marked my initial step into the design and creative industry.It taught me not to be afraid of rejection and the courage to start again, which is of great help to me in my future study and work.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Actually, I got an opportunity to work as an NFT illustrator around 3 years ago, but due to the extremely busy school work, I didn’t take that opportunity, and I regretted it for a long time, until now.
To be honest, I’m not familiar with this kind of trend, but I feel like it should be a potential market for it, and if I can choose again, I will take that job opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://erayzhang0415.wixsite.com/my-site-1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eray_zhang/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eray-zhang20000415/
• Other: https://www.coroflot.com/ErayZhang/stream