Steph Mutuc - Graphic Design Artist

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

STEPHANIE MUTUC

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Stephanie “Reem” Mutuc Suba is a Filipina artist based in Chicago. She was born in Santa Ana City, Pampanga, Philippines which is a rural town two hours north of the capital Manila known as the culnary capital of the country. Growing up, she was raised in a very conservative household where religion was a focal point in her everyday life. She grew up in a modest household given her mother’s sacrifice working abroad as a healthcare worker, which she was very grateful for but also forced her to take on adult responsibliites taking care of her little sister atsuch a young age.

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Growing up, she was raised in a conservative household where religion was a focal point in her everyday life.

Stephanie grew up as an immigrant like many people who move to the United States to pursue the American dream.

At a young age of nine years old, Stephanie moved to Chicago, USA to be with her mother and pursue better opportunities than what she is able to have in the Philippines. Growing up in a rural town it was difficult for her to leave all of her relatives and experience a tremendous culture shock. From seeing only filipinos in her town to having to navigate different races, learn a different language, and become familiar with what living in an American city is like. To help her cope, she took refuge at home watching cartoons not only for entertainment purposes but also to improve her ability to listen and speak english. At the root of it, Stephanie grew up as an immigrant like many people who move to the United States to pursue the American dream.

Stephanie’s introduction to art started earlier in her life. Growing up in the Philippines, Stephanie enjoyed being out in the community given the very vibrant Filipino traditions that are rooted in arts and religion. Throughout the year, there are community wide festivals that are called “fiestas” where an entire town celebrates a specific cultural theme. As part of these festivals, there are performers that parade colorful floats, do creative dances, and of course eat colorful food. Since the Philippines is highly agriultural, there are some themes that are even centered around bountiful harvest depending on the province such as corn, eggplant, rice, etc., Seeing and hearing these large cultural events have really influenced the way she looks at the world and as she started to get into creating her own art, it provided a solid foundation for her to continue to develop her own style.

Art was not always an intrinsic talent for Stephanie. She relied on mentors to drive her talent, like many people. She vividly remembers her 5th grade art teacher who saw her potential with art and gave her acrylic paint to do work outside of class. Because of this, she started to become really interested in painting and as soon as her mother saw her passion, she supported all throughout her journey. As she continued her journey, one of the artists that she drew inspiration from is Bob Ross and how he taught millions of people through his show. She meticulously watched his shows to better understand how to paint landscape paintings which she still uses in her designs today.

Given some of the hardships that Stephanie went through in her life, she has really adopted a motto of just taking life as it flows. While this carries a dark connotation, this started when her mother was diagnosed with cancer and subsequently died. This uprooted a lot of her hopes and dreams in life, however, growing up religious, she was taught to never complain and that whatever challenges she is facing in life, there is always someone that is worse off and

religious, she continues to carry on this motto in everything that she does in her life. It has taken her a long time to recover from the trauma that all of the hardships she went through has put on her but she continues to press on and

As an artist, it’s difficult to put in words what Steph’s style is. She enjoys the process of exploring different type of arts and the switch between analog and digital has opened up a lot of opportunities for her to explore different things. While she spent a significant amount of time in analog, she’s found a home in creating digital art work which has satisfied her craving and instant gratification given the fast pace nature of developing art that ppeals to her and her audience’s emotion.

Currently, she is exploring careers where she can continue her work and provide value for people and/ or enterprises. It’s a continued work in progress to find her style as shelearns new tools and new ways of creating art.

I DON’T KNOW YET.

Interviewer: Describe how you got into Graphic Design

Steph: Due to some of the trauma with my mother’s passing, I found myself going from job to job in healthcare which did not provide the same satisfaction. My long term boyfriend who has supported me throughout all of my hardships suggested I go back to school and pursue what I’ve been passionated about which I initially thought was analog. As I continued my education, I found that I really enjoyed digital and continued to learn more tools and read up on resources. Of course,having great mentors and professors have really pushed me to the best of my abilities and their words of affirmation has helped motivate me.

Interviewer: What’s the most difficult part of being a graphic designer?

Steph: It’s difficult to keep up with all the different technologies that are coming out that are changing the industry. There’s constantly changing tools and expectations whether that’s AI or other ways of incorporating technology in my art. In the age of social media, its also been difficult to find inspairation since someone will also create something better or something more viral. While it provides some relief from the depression I’ve developed, it has also become a source of frustration when you can’t come up with ideas that you are satisfied with.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER GRAPHIC

GRAPHIC DESIGNER GRAPHIC DESIGNER GRAPHIC

FUNK IT UP!

FUNK UP!

Interview: Talk to me about where you drew inspirations in these art work?

Steph: As much as art is a way for me to escape from the daily grind, music has provided me the same relief. I wanted to really blend some of the best music I listen to to the art I’m working on. For example, Lizzo is one of my most admired artist and I wanted to represent her boldness in the posted so I made sure it is extravagant in every way and that she is the center of the poster.

Poster: Parokya Ni Edgar

Interviewer: Your Filipino culture clearly means a lot to you. How does this poster bring out your love for your culture and the need to represent them in your work?

Steph: Yes, I agree. As I mentioned, music means to me as much as art, however, I’m not as musically inclined as I am artistically inclined. Most times, I like to reminisce and be nostalgic about the time when I was in the Philippines with my relatives with very few worries. This band is the iconic Original Pilipino Music (OPM) that every Filipino in the 90s listened to and I wanted to pay homage to the music they came out

Interviewer: Speaking of culture, this piece also touches on your roots. Can you talk about your inspiration towards this piece?

Steph: Likha means creation or to create in Tagalog which evokes inspiration and creativity. Moving to Chicago as an immigrant for a better life has been a journey of creating the best version of myself. This poster expressed my emotion towards my journey as an artist and the love of my culture.

Artwork: Procreate

Artwork: Risograph

Interview: Let’s switch up a bit. These pieces look like groceries. What made you draw inspiration from these objects?

Steph: These four poster series are illlustated to be a part of a Zine that showcase our connection to lettepress printing. For this project, I utilize the labels and the brand name to interpret my frustration with letterpress with something I love, which is food and snacks. I hand illustrated each image and then printed it using the Risograph machine. This technique of printing gives

LETTER PRESS

Interview: Looks like were going back to music, specifically going back in time to vinyl. you talk about this piece.

Steph: This is an homage to Linval Thompson who is a Reggae singer who grew Queens. Part of being a gaphic designer, I wanted to explore what it would be like develop artistic work for album covers but vinyl artwork appeals much more to my palette. When vynils were popular, they didn’t have the same level of technology we had today so I wanted to recreate how I would look at this from a more modern approach.

Can up in like to palette. today

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Words of affirmation does very little to satisfy Steph’s craving to improve her artwork. Despite many of her peers and professors providing positive feedback, Steph always feel that her artwork is never enough and that she needs to constantly evolve that way she does things. Its difficult to get excited when the work she’s producing doesn’t provide the satisfaction that she’s looking for but she continues to learn from the work that she does on a daily basis. In some ways, it’s a good thingt o always have the hunger to learn more and improve more which is why graphic design is good fit because there’s always something new that disrupts the indusstry and changes the way we approach art.

GOOD ENOUGH.

Book Design

Stephanie Mutuc

Typefaces

Univers LT Std by Adrian Frutiger

Univers Black by Adrian Frutiger

Univers Light Normal by Adrian Frutiger

Interviewer

Jan Larsen Dela Cruz

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Book Size & Info

Letter Size 8.5 x 11

This book was made using InDesign and Adobe Illustrator

Copyright

All content reproduced in Steph Mutuc is subject to copyright and remains property of their respective owners.

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