Q&A

Question and answer with Emily Hum from SCAD.Question and answer with Emily Hum from SCAD.

♥ What environment helps you to work best?
Good music or movie playing in the background, a warm drink by my side, and my head full of inspiration and ideas. Sometimes I put on some incense or scented candles, too.

♥ What gets you motivated or inspired when you're not?

Inspiration is everywhere for me, it’s just a matter of recognizing them and doing something about it. Music, colors, texture, facial expressions, all kinds of beautiful things are inspirational. I keep many art books, inspirational magazines and a folder-ful of interesting elements that never fail to pick me up when I need them.

♥ What do you like to draw the most/least?

I think I have grown to love feminine aesthetics most of all. Anything that is soft, gentle and curvy is really stimulating for me. Even though I can appreciate more masculine styles of futuristic robots or apocalyptic scenes, it's just not in me to enjoy painting them, so I leave them to those who do!

♥ What made you decide to be an illustrator?

Nothing is more frustrating to me than wasting time. I want every moment in my life to be fun and happy. It's not easy to be an illustrator but I think it was worth it because I have so much fun painting anyway, and getting paid to do what I love is icing on the cake.

♥ What medium do you prefer to work in and is that the medium you usually end up working in?

I enjoy digital art and yes, recently most of my work has been digital. It is just more convenient at the moment. I also enjoy painting using watercolors but it's not my primary media nowadays.

♥ Who is your biggest inspiration?

Art books and images that I stumble across on the Internet are great inspirations.

♥ How do you choose your color schemes (i.e. online color palettes, color wheel, trial and error)?

I tend to enjoy bright and cleaner color schemes. I think this may be influenced by my watercolor training, where I always use bright and transparent colors. Anything that looks fresh, clean and bright are usable to me. Sometimes I use a photograph or a lighting reference to keep me in check, but mostly I just pick whatever that looks good.