Here's an interview with one of our mentors for Graphic Week - Ano!

What type of graphics do you make and which is your favorite?

Mostly covers but I like doing icon packs every now and then. I used to love doing img threads back when the MDC used to be on the vanilla forums. 

How long have you been designing graphics?

6 years I'd say? I started 2012 if I'm not mistaken.

How did you start?

I needed a cover for terrible cringe story back in 2012 so I tried to make a cover for it on my iPad. I soon found the MDC shortly after and there it began :D

What is your favorite part about graphic design?

LIGHTING. I absolutely love to do lighting, shadows and highlights on my manips. It's so much fun to mess around with my tablet and try new things. I also really enjoy making handwritten covers!

Where do you get your inspiration?

Everywhere! Right now I'm rewatching one of my favorite kdramas called Suspicious Partner and the artistic direction of the show is done so well, the backlighting and use of bright colors inspires me a lot! That aside, I tend to hang around Pinterest for most of my inspo but I also go on tumblr if I'm making more of collage or non-manip graphics.

How long do graphics typically take you?

Uhhh maybe around 2-3 hours? I'm super indecisive and I have a huge ass pack of PSD's. I generally tend to put all of them on my graphic and choose the best ones of the pack. This usually leads me to be super indecisive about coloring and therefore takes a majority of my time lol. I'm pretty fast with the base of manips and face swaps though, it's just the finishing touches that take some time.

What advice would you give aspiring designers?

Practice practice PRACTICE. Honestly none of the really good designers you see on Wattpad started out that way. If you think your graphics suck right now, well to be honest they probably do. But that just means you have room for improvement. Frankly speaking, I look at the stuff I make sometimes and go 'wtf ano this is terrible yeet your mac out the window pls' but that's precisely why practice helps. I would also recommend looking up YouTube tutorials for Photoshop (if you use it)! This channel called piximperfect is my saving grace and I've learnt legit so much from a small amount of videos. There are also a ton of Wattpad speed covers on YouTube which you can use for reference. Most importantly though, don't copy. Be original please. imitating a cover for practice is totally fine. It's totally fine as long as you don't claim it as your own or post it anywhere. Let's be honest, everyone tries to imitate others, that's just how humans work. But finding your own style is so so important! Finally, don't beat yourself up or compare yourself to others. Trust me that's just going to demotivate you and think even more worse about your own graphics. Good luck <3

A fun fact about yourself:

I'm a weeb who's trash at League of Legends but plays anyway because addiction boiz.