We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jiyun Choi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jiyun below.

Jiyun, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects that I have worked on is my graphic novel project titled ‘Out of Orbit’. It was created during my senior year at college.

I got an idea from the fact that so many people struggle with self-esteem issues. So, I came up with a story about the moon came down to earth to find perfect body for it. The moon in this story was not satisfied with itself and the place it belonged. So, it went on an adventure to find a new body. However, it realized that it feels the most comfortable to be in its own body. After realizing that, it went back to the sky where it can be true to itself.

It was a long term project. So, I developed characters and stories for the first few weeks. Then, I made a lot of sketches based on that. I chose some sketches that I liked and finalized the illustrations for each spread by cleaning up the line works and adding colors.

This project is very meaningful to me because it reflects my own experience. During high school, I believed what most people want would also make me happy. I tried to fit myself into that standard. However, I felt like I was faking myself. So, like the moon character in my story, I decided to do what I truly like and feel the most comfortable.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello! My name is Jiyun Choi and I am an illustrator and designer currently based in Los Angeles, CA. I love daydreaming, animals, plants, museums, and all the beautiful things in life. Those inspire me to create whimsical characters and stories.

I have always loved drawing and making stories since I was a kid. It was a way to connect myself with the world. I was a very introverted child and I spent most of my times reading books with beautiful illustrations. Those inspired me to create my own stories and characters. I have always wanted to share that experience with other people through my art.

However, I didn’t consider art as my career until high school because I thought going to a good university and getting a stable job was the most important thing. But I realized I have to do something that I can truly enjoy in order to have a happy life. To me, art was the best way to express myself and discover exciting things in my life. So, I decided to apply to art schools and studied illustration at Art Center College of Design where I learned how to become a better artist.

As an illustrator and designer, I create images for editorial, advertising and publishing. My works include bright colors, fun shapes and humor. I also like to work with typography and incorporate that in my illustration. Through creating works that have meaningful stories, I really hope I can share the good experiences that I got from art with other people!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My biggest motivation as an artist is sharing my thoughts and making positive impacts to our community. I believe art can be an effective method to convey powerful thoughts. Visual images are more approachable to people and it easily capture their attention. I hope I can contribute to make better community through my art.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I first entered a college and started to study art, I was always pressured about getting a good result and too focused on what other people would think about my work. I couldn’t really enjoy the creative process itself because of that. That disturbed me from being more explorative and creative. I had to unlearn that habit to improve my work.

In order to do that, I tried to understand myself as a person. It helped me to remember the main reason why I pursued this path which is to share my imagination and stories with other people. I started to develop my own ways of interpreting shapes, colors and stories. Through a lot of explorations, I created my own characters and stories with whimsical shapes and colors. It really helped me to focus more to my inner voice instead of comparing myself with other people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jiyunchoillustration.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jiyunchoi.art/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiyun-choi-69816222a/