NEW HIRE SPOTLIGHT: CAROLINE BAE

NEW HIRE SPOTLIGHT: CAROLINE BAE

A LOOK INTO THE MIND BEHIND THE ARTIST OF THE COVER, COINCIDENTALLY ALSO OUR NEW ART ASSISTANT

By Natalie Comfort

Natalie Comfort: How do you feel about being the new art assistant? Caroline Bae: Excited! Nervous, but excited. I’m genuinely so glad I get to work with a team of interesting people and it’s fun being on the other side after volunteering for so long. I’m also looking forward to working alongside so many talented volunteers. NC: In what other capacities, have you worked with curating and creating art? CB: I’ve just been a hobbyist for the longest time. As early as I can remember. Over time, I have branched out to all kinds of art. I’ve done stuff for press, typography, and sculpture. M y main focus is illustration but I think it is interesting to be in the opposite role now of managing. NC: What did you like about your experiences with management submitting art that you want to bring into this role? CB: I want to be more involved. I want to learn more from other artists. I feel like I have a specific style. Here we have a wide range of volunteers so there are many different styles of art. Everyone has a different approach, right? It is nice to learn from that. I feel like I have been doing the same thing for most of my art career so I like seeing the variety. NC: Do you have any specific plans for the magazine going forward? CB: Expect to see a more illustrative look! I’d also really like to encourage the focus on the contents of the mag. We have so many talented writers and artists onboard here, and I really want to focus on preserving their unique visions and complementing their work so it can be at its fullest potential. NC: Are you nervous? CB: Hell yeah (no further comment as said nervousness proceeded to materialize into an incomprehensible physical form and straight up graphically eviscerate the interviewee. She will be missed.) Definitely, but I think in a good way. I see this as a good opportunity to challenge myself artistically and pick up some new skills, both as a creative and as a leader. NC: How was making the cover for December? CB: I wanted to try my hand at fictionalized landscapes, which I’ve never really done at this scale. It basically became a process of refining down my concept sketch until I think it looks done enough. As for the finished product? I can’t quite say I’m ever entirely happy with any of my finished works, but I strive to do even better on the next. NC: What inspired the space-cowboy theme? CB: When I first got this prompt, I thought this west theme needed a little bit more of the weird, so I decided that “space western” could be the twist. A lot of this month’s articles were about loneliness and existentialism which happened to fit the space stuff really well, I think. Ultimately though, what was probably most influential was that I am a sucker for sci-fi and space themes, so sue me. NC: Where did you draw your inspiration from? CB: I spend a lot of time browsing other art, looking at other artist’s approaches to the same concept and what to take after and what to do differently. What is your process with creating art? CB: I start with physical pen and ink sketches in my notebook, just jotting down the thumbnails. I bounce around ideas. I throw that into a digital painting program. From there, I add in more details, building color on color since it was a painting-like style for this one. NC: Are you facing any frontiers right now? CB: Just small hurdles in health and work, which is to be expected. Depression and stress levels are known to rise this month and time of year, and this month’s article is full of personal struggles and thoughts heading into a new year, new chapters of their life and new horizons. My cover is a barren, desolate landscape but I wanted to allude to being able to carry on and trek forwards into the unknown no matter what. See you space cowboy.