Graphic design

Yeah.

And that's good on you for trying to for learning a new skill in graphic design to during the pandemic.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I think it's kind of like it was a rough time, you know, so everyone is just trying like, whatever is out there.

Uh, I think in, in like maybe different, um, classes, different years, but, um, yeah, that was like wider, uh, niche, uh, of the design community in Brisbane.

Uh, and I feel like it had a, at least to me, like, uh, I remember when I first talked to the guy that, that ran the school point at like some career expo or something, and one of my, um, one of my lecturers back at the previous back at QUT he said dude you already like know the art stuff so you could just go in do like a quick TAFE course learn the software and then like start doing stuff in graphic design as quick and cheap as possible and then you know I spoke to Clint and he's like yeah you could do that but there actually is like a lot to graphic design and graphic design theory and like, you know, learning it from the ground up.

And there's a lot more than just sort of like the software.

And we really kind of like specialise in all of the stuff like before you get to the stage of the computer, you know, and putting the time and effort into like refining a concept, refining an idea, Um, you know, like drafting different things on, on paper before you even get to the stage where you're thinking about how this is going to look once it gets into the computer and you get all that sort of side of it.

And I really connected with that and I was like, you know what? I think he's right.

And I think that was one of the best decisions I ever made to go to DCA because I think I still carry a lot of that stuff in terms of those principles.

And I definitely did actually fall in love with graphic design as a medium and as a craft through doing that as well.

But I carry a lot of that on now.

And then after a while, I realized a lot of my artwork would translate to products, and so that was why I decided to do product first.

And then I decided, and I decided I needed to go back to school because if I was gonna do product or all of these things, like, I had a graphic design background, but I decided I need to go back to school and actually be a real illustrator, and to do that, I had need a degree.

Maybe that's the Indian in me, but- [laughs]

[laughs]

So the way that I bring both things in is a lot of my, the icons, the imagery I use, there's a lot of nature.

There's a lot of plants and florals, and then the line work I use is very inspired by traditional Indian artwork.

It's also kind of inspired by or influenced by my graphic design background, as well as I was born and raised here in Southern California.

I'm still a Valley girl at heart.

You can share even the most basic things.

There are people out there that just do not know some of the basic things around graphic design, the little things like the difference between additive and subtractive color.

I'm guilty of that.

So little things like that.

time.

I think that's the hardest thing for people to learn.

Yeah, I was going to do a course like optical illusions and graphic design.

It's so nuanced.

So I think that's why I studied.

I ended up studying graphic design or applying to graphic design.

It was like, that's what you do if you want to work in advertising.

And Slowly, AUB sort of changed my perspective on that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, so, so I guess this was your inspirational point to get into graphic design, right? But how did you get interested in coding?

Okay, so coding was then my after.

And I think what it really does for me is let the art point to the iconography that is present on the covers and in, you know, some of the front and back matter.

They really went really hard with the graphic design on this book, which is fantastic.

I think I think a lot of what people like about this book is actually the iconography and graphic design.

Yes.

And this is the first of these two pages is somewhat subtle in this.

But like I think it is maybe the it's the culmination of the expression of that graphic design in the actual interiors of the comic book.

Like even just like there's a single panel that's like just his hand on the phone.

Right.

So I went to Concord University right off on St. Paul Eastside over there.

I went for graphic design.

And interestingly enough, I didn't know that graphic design was actually something that I wanted to major in.

I just wanted to draw and I love messing with computers.

So I remember my first day in my class, all my classmates were speaking in this language that I did not understand.

So literally for one whole month, we have a computer lab and they have laptops in there.

So I went into that computer lab every day after school just to study the programs and Just because I feel so behind.

And then because of that, I think that's how I fell in love with graphic design.

But to start off, I want to know how you got into editing.

I read that you thought graphic design might be your route.

So how did that change to be in the edit suite?

Yeah, well, when I was kind of...

Approaching the end of school, I didn't really have much of a clue about what I wanted to do for a living.

So I thought graphic design might be something that I could pursue because I was kind of into like comic books at the time and I like drawing and things like that.

And I was kind of good on computers.

So I went to the University of Ulster in Belfast and signed up for their visual communication course.