Sung Lee is a talented, freelance graphic designer. After meeting him face to face at a local art show, Sung shares his story. He talks about his culture Korea and also on how he got to where he is today in Vancouver after graduating from Emily Carr.

Can you describe yourself and briefly talk about your personal life to our readers?

My name is Sung Lee. Originally from Seoul, Korea, I came to Vancouver six years ago to study art and design. I graduated with a Bes communication design from the Emily Carr University in Vancouver and have been working as a freelancer since 2007.

I love typography, toys, illustration, animals, photography and graphic design.

What is the primary medium for your art? How did you discover and stick to these mediums? Why did you choose this medium?

Well, I am a graphic designer so I use computers every time. I use oil and acrylic painting when I do painting (I don’t think I can’t answer it properly since currently I barely do the painting)

Having a background from Korea, are there any culture aspects of the country that you have incorporated within your designs? Furthermore, what have you learn from growing up in Korea?  What experiences have you gained from your move to Canada to getting established in Vancouver?

I might say Korea was close to Japan, so I grew up with mostly Japanese cartoons. As you know Japanese cartoons and comics have plenty of creative subject matter. I guess it helped me to push the limit of imagination and develop the creativity. In addition, I learned drawing and painting techniques in Korea. My mother was a painter and art teacher, usually teaching high school student in Korea. I used to participate in the classes, and had a chance look at what they did since I was a child. In Korea, as you know, there are crazy educational competition to get in the university. It is same to art students; they drew the same object over and over. I heard that it has been changed nowadays, but when I was a kid they were like a copy machine. Their drawing skill technique were incredibly great, but I couldn’t find any creativity. That’s why I decided to move outside of Korea.

Which art work of yours are you the most proud of and why? What’s the biggest project you have worked with?

My biggest project was art directing the fashion show events, 2ndEcho Art and Fashion Show, presented by Rhythm Visual and Sound Society (RVSS). My task was art directing in the events. It was a very interesting project to experiment with all kinds of arts. Although the main focus of this event was a fashion show, there were many kinds of art included, such as motion graphic, performing art, sound design and painting. The scale of the show was very challenging to me; we had almost 40 staffs, 300 to 400 guests and it took six months to prepare the event.  However, all designers and artist were young talented students so the team was unbelievably energetic and exciting. It was very great opportunity to learn so many things from different fields.

Various forms of art are things that can be studied at recognized institutions. What do you think are the benefits of both self-taught art and institution taught art, and why did you choose to go to school for it?

I think learning from both self-taught and intuition taught is important. I believe good artists or designers are good with balancing with them by themselves. Art institutions develop the students’ skills and creative thinking processes. Among those advantages of the art institution, the most important value is learning from the classmates. They often see good and bad things that I can’t see from my works and it is very helpful. However, as art students, they will face the instruction or educational controversy and sometimes they will have conflicts between their beliefs and instructors and lose their own style.  I decided to have education at the art institution because I felt limits of developing my creative thinking process and I needed the network with others since I am not originally from Canada.

What is your process when working on projects or assignments for clients?

It depends on the clients, but I usually start with listening. Listening is the crucial stage to catch their requirement and to find the right place of what they want and what I want. Then I start with the research to briefly prove my direction. After clients and I decide the direction of project, I move on the visualizing stage. During this stage, I usually go back and force the proof; persuade and educate the clients.

Where does the inspiration for your graphic designs come from?

I believe my inspiration comes from everyday life photography. I love to bring a camera all the time and photograph random things. When I look at the photos, taken in the past, I can see what I ignored before. It is more than the object in the photo that reminds me of something new. The composition, color and visual languages of the photo inspired me so much.

What is your dream project and how far do you want your art to reach? What are you planning on doing with your talent in the future?

My dream project will be designing my own brand like Bape. It doesn’t mean that I want to launch my own fashion brand. I believe what Bape established was the culture they are communicating through fashion, food, sounds, and so on. I respect the concept of designing life style. As I consider myself as a beginner; I still have so many things to learn and one day, I want to share my world with everyone!

What is HYPE to you?

HYPE is like a new planet to explore.

You can check out more of Sung’s work at www.sunglee.net