Today we’d like to introduce you to Junjun Chen.
Hi Junjun, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
If someone told me a few years ago that I would study illustration in New York in the future, I would have thought it was a fantasy. My undergraduate degree is in finance, and after graduation, I have been working in the financial industry for many years. But the mechanical repetition of work made me feel like a sapling without water, dying. I don’t want to live like this for the rest of my life. After repeated struggles, reflections, and under opposition from my family, I left a stable job that everyone envied and entered a private studio to learn the basics of drawing and painting.
The reason I want to learn this is that I learned sketching for a period of time when I was little. The rustling sound of the pencil rubbing on the paper still makes me feel focused and happy. I think that as long as I can do work related to images in the future, I am willing to do so.
Later, I was fortunate enough to get a job as a visual designer at an internet company. For the first two years, I mainly did page design, and for the next three years, I slowly turned to illustration and found I liked and was better at illustration.
In 2019, the company was facing business adjustments, and the opportunity to draw illustrations suddenly decreased. And I didn’t want to do page design anymore. Studying abroad has always been my childhood dream. With the encouragement of my friends, I made up my mind to prepare for the language and portfolio. In the summer of 2021, I came to the School of Visual Arts to study as a graduate student in illustration.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
After learning the basics of drawing and painting, I took some illustration courses online, but I had not been able to find a job. Most companies were reluctant to give me a chance to try because I did not graduate with an art major. If I hadn’t been fortunate enough to get a job as a visual designer later, I probably would be doing other things now. During my career as a visual designer, it took me a few years to realize that illustration is more suitable for me, and I gradually made it clear that illustration is my career goal. As for the bottlenecks encountered in the learning process, compared with these difficulties, it is nothing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
For me, illustration is not only a career choice but also a bridge to understanding myself and the world. Keep me alive more bravely and vigorously. I‘m interested in emotions, feelings, relationships between people, and women’s rights. One of the great charms of illustration is that it can convey feelings that cannot be clearly described in language and can create a world between reality and fantasy. Currently, I am learning to write and draw stories that I hope can resonate, heal and inspire people.
Now I have no fixed way of working, I work both traditionally and digitally. I’d like to experiment with different materials and gradually find my style. Hoping I can always have the courage to take risks and be sincere in my work. Fortunately for me, my work always resonates and likes by some people.
How do you think about happiness?
A moment to feel loved and loved.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.junjundraws.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/junjundraws/
