Jinhwa Jang Book

JINHHWA JANG ILLUSTRATOR

BIOGRAPHY J

inwah Jang was born and grew up in South Korea and China.

She is currently based in New York. She does illustrations and uses tons of vibrant colors in her work. When Jinwah makes her art pieces they are strongly influenced by her past and growing up in South Korea. Jinhwa is originally from South Korea and moved to Shanghai for a total of eight years, before moving to New York to study illustration.

But she’s been an artist even in her younger years and has been creating art even as a child. She first picked up a pencil in her younger years – but she never

thought she could specialize in the medium, let alone work in the field professionally. “By collecting images of the city and creating a landscape,” says Jinhwa, “I feel like I’m reconciled with my memories in Shanghai.”

(It’s Nice That) When looking at Jinwah’s work the color automatically pops out at you. She uses bold and vibrant colors a lot in her art. This brings out the colors she sees which are going against the dark, city nightlife she saw so much in her past.

CAREER “What I like about illustration is that there are thousands of ways to approach a brief. There is never only one right way to convey an idea and there is also a lot of self-expression as an illustrator,”

I

t is noticeable in Jinwah’s art, that she does not limit herself to doing it a certain way and she looks at the beauty around her and uses that to inspire what art piece she would be making next. She does not see one way to approach her art. Besides the colors that she uses, which she uses in her art a lot. Jinwah slowly learned what it took to be an illustrator and that it was not all about trying to produce new art pieces, but it took learning as well. “At first, she says, “I thought this profession is less creative and restricted than the others, but now I know that to be an illustrator, I need more than just technique.

I have to know about myself, about culture, history, and people, which

have been the hardest part for me.” (It’s Nice That) this shows another side of Jinwha and how even if art can come easily, there is always a challenge that every artist faces. This one seems rare, and not talked about a lot, which is understanding culture and history to understand art. Most people do not think you need to know those things, and you can just make art whenever you need inspiration, but one of the approaches to doing that is trying to understand the history of art itself. And the history and culture of the art you are making.

PROCESS H

owever, when Jinwah was asked if she uses design philosophy this is what she had to say. “I don’t know much about philosophy and many of my works are brief based. I usually make news and article editorial illustrations, and they are exposed to a large amount of diverse unspecified readers in a noticeably short time. Therefore, I aim to make gender- and ethnic-inclusive work .” (repsychl) Jinwah does not really have a design philosophy in her artwork and does not know a whole bunch about design philosophy, but she does want to be inclusive.

Even though she does make illustrations for editors and magazines,

she does not let that stop her from doing her own work, using bright colors, and trying to improve and step out of her comfort zone, which is a huge step in an artist’s career and is part of the process in becoming a better artist.

“Despite the number of commercial projects, she continues to take on, Jang still strives to set time aside for personal projects. She is endlessly experimenting with color combinations and looking for new imaginative spins to put to her snapshots.” (NeoCha)

AWARDS American Illustration 41 - The Selected Winner American Illustration 40 - The Chosen Winner Society of Publication Designers 56 - Merit Award in the Digital Original Illustration Category The World Illustration Awards 2019 - New Talent Site Specific Category Winner The Young Ones 2019 - Portfolio Competition Winner American Illustration 38 - The Chosen Winner Society of Illustrators - The FoTN Award Scholarship Winner Communication Arts Illustration Competition 2019 - Shortlisted American Illustration 37 - The Selected Winner

BIBLIOGRAPHY “Jinhwa Jang - Summer 1. ” KIBLIND Atelier, kiblind-atelier.com/products/jinhwa-jang-summer-1?logged_in_customer_ id=&lang=en&variant=39282452594765.

Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

“Jinhwa Jang .” The AOI, theaoi.com/wia/jinhwa-jang-nyc-streets/.

Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Jinhwa Jang, www.jinhwajangart.com/.

Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Behance.

“Jinhwa Jang on Behance.” Behance, www.behance.net/jinhwajangart.

Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

“Jinhwa Jang .” Girlsclub Asia, 23 Oct. 2020, girlsclub.asia/meet-the-artist/jinhwa-jang/.

Jang, Jinhwa.

“About.” Jinhwa Jang, www.jinhwajangart.com/about.

Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

“Jinhwa Jang on How the Art of Illustration Is More than Just Technique.” It’s Nice That, www.itsnicethat.com/articles/jinhwa-jang-on-how-the-art-of-illustration-is-more-than-just-technique-illustration-010319.

Accessed 15 Nov. 2023.

“Jinhwa Jang: Artist Interview Series.”

Repsychl, 3 Jan. 2022, https://repsychl.co.uk/2022/01/07/jinhwa-jang-artist-interview-series/ Accessed 15 Nov. 2023 “Chromatic Citiesneocha – Culture & Creativity in Asia.” Neocha Culture Creativity in Asia, https://neocha.com/magazine/chromatic-cities/ Accessed 15 Nov. 2023.

DESIGNED BY TERRAN HUSTON