We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hsin Ting Lin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hsin Ting, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission is to display the creativity and imperfection of humans. I believe in the value of creating from our thoughts by “working around,” which is making the difficulties work through our design.

The mission originated from my building up my creative path. At the beginning of my design work, I couldn’t position my style for a time. I had been learning from the works or videos on the Internet for a while. Until the summer, I enrolled in some online courses to learn the basics of 3D. Even though 3D was such a learning curve and I was still such a newbie after that summer, I chose to make my first short animation film in 3D. Although it didn’t make sense for one to make the first film in a way without much experience, I pictured my film in a stylized 3D at that time and was eager to learn while making it. Thus, I started to dive into many tight 3D skills within a limited time, such as character design, rigging, and animation. At the same time as building up my skillsets for my film, I learned the approach of ‘working around’- 3D could be highly skilled, whereas there are also many 3D styles, instead of one and the only answer. In other words, I found that I could stylize them not only to make my own life easier, but also to stand out from others. More importantly, it is also where I could input my creativity.

After that, I started to be able to turn inspiration from life into creative works. As I’ve made a few pieces I liked myself, I also picked up more and more skills afterward, making my works more and more distinct, and I’d always keep polishing them. Then I realized that it is the value coming from our thoughts. Working around can encourage creativity, and I’m dedicated to interpreting it in my artworks, especially in the face of this upcoming AI time.

Hsin Ting, 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?

I am a designer/animator interested in making artwork based on human activities in daily life, extending my keen market sensitivity to observations of the city’s vibrancy and drawing inspiration from various living moments on the streets. I enjoy making joyful and playful motion graphics with versatile visual styles ranging from organic 2D illustrations to stylized 3D, which is mostly simple but full of adorable characteristics at the same time.

So far, the highlight of my work is my animation film “Delivery.” The film depicted a story I’d like to tell and the style I wanted to achieve at that time. It also pretty much laid the foundation of my creativity in 3D. I also found I prefer to start with an illustration and stylize it in 3D rather than generating realistic artwork by computer. Even though my style might evolve as time passes, developing my personality is essential for creating my work.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn comparing myself with others as an artist. In the past, I used to do some analytics with comparison at work. When it comes to creatives, it doesn’t work that much but results in more anxiety and depression. I brought about bad outcomes every time I compared myself to others. Not because I am worse than others every time, but because the mindset, either looking down on me or others, would hinder my creative progression. Instead, I realized that concentrating on learning and improving the work itself fosters my creativity more than thinking of the development of the artists, making the community reciprocal.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One of the most rewarding things as an artist is that I can explore myself more and express myself more visibly and appealingly. Before becoming an artist, I tend to follow the public’s expectations. However, I didn’t know how to stand out from others because I didn’t understand myself. Yet, to be an artist, I have to dig into myself, have conversations with myself, and know myself the best to discover my creativity. Although sometimes it is still struggling, being an artist shows me my potential, personality, and preferences more vividly to the public. I reflect on myself and appreciate daily life more often than before. Even though I still cannot see through everything about myself, I have been more accepting of the real me than before.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hsintina.work
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hsintina.work
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/hsintingting