충북대학교신문방송사

People are tired of colorful and complex cities, overly-sensational content, and repetitive daily life. However, they often live with stress because they do not have the time and means to relieve it. In platforms overflowing with sensational content, there is one illustrator who draws warm drawings for people who are tired. Illustrations that touch each person’s heart give them greater strength than they think. People can feel happy and be consoled by just looking at the illustrations. A CBT reporter interviewed the illustrator Pyeonhi, who gives a resting place to readers by drawing with her own soft painting style and expressiveness.

Q1. Please introduce yourself.

Hello, I am the illustrator Pyeonhi. I express various things that I encounter in my daily life with my own perspective.

Q2. What made you become an illustrator, what motivates you to draw on social media (Instagram)?

I think it could be similar to other illustrators. In my case, I have been drawing sketches since I was young. It was when I was in middle school that I drew sketches that I could show to others, not doodles. It was a different style of sketch than now, but when I drew, my classmates gathered around to see the drawing, and I got many requests from them to draw things. These immediate reactions to my work led me to think that I should continue to draw. That was how I naturally prepared for the art college entrance exam, and then entered the art college. However, upon entering art college, I was in for a rude awakening. In middle school and high school, I regarded myself as “The one who draws the best,” but among my peers in art school it was a different story. I was very shocked at the time. That was why I stopped drawing, and I lived avoiding drawing until graduation. After that, I did not quit the art academy where I worked part-time, thinking, “I do not want to draw sketches now, but I kept doing it.” I just drew entrance exam drawings for academy students for a few years, and I came to experience burnout. I did not know why I was teaching children, it was not fun, and I was obsessed with all kinds of negative thoughts such as “How long can I do this?” Then I thought, “Let’s draw what I want to draw as a hobby,” and after drawing a few illustrations, the drawing became so much fun again. That is how I started drawing again, and that became my job.

Q3. I could feel comfort and warm-heartedness in your illustrations. Do you have any messages that you want to deliver to readers?

My name Pyeonhi means “comfortably” in Korean, so I hope the readers appreciate my illustrations comfortably like my name.

The city’s colors are too fancy. The signs and lights are colorful because they should be noticed by people. We even interact with too many people all day. Therefore, I intend for the readers to take some rest in my illustrations. Actually, I am so tired and exhausted by cities. I get too tiresome by the world, so I relieve myself by drawing paintings. I think everyone has similar feelings as me, so they understand my intention well.

Q4. Where do you usually get your inspiration from?

I am most influenced by the surrounding scenery, especially nature rather than the city, and I think most in the morning and afternoon rather than at night.

For example, I am going to make a story with the scenery right in front of me. As spring passed, all the flowers of the cherry blossom trees fell and the trees turned green. Then you can think of it as the wind that plucked those flowers. I make the wind a visible character, and imagine the wind holding green clothes like a beauty stylist changing the clothes of a tree. Next, I imagine a cherry blossom tree showing off its style in that new outfit. If you change what you see a little bit and consider it to be unique, everything can become an interesting story.

Q5. What is your favorite or most impressive work?

In fact, since all of my work has meaning and I always think of all of them as equally important, it is hard to choose only one. If I have to select one then I would say that my work about the Independence Movement Day (March 1) was the most meaningful. It seems that readers also enjoyed it because the illustration conveys the significance of the Independence Movement Day, which had been previously overlooked. Furthermore, I received other work contacts through this work, making it even more significant to me. Since then, I always try to draw on special days like this.

Q6. What work do you want to do in the future, and what is your future plan?

I would like to work on illustrations for textbooks, educational materials, and books for teenagers. In other words, it could be summarized as educational illustrations. I will constantly endeavor to work hard so that my illustrations can be seen in many published materials in the future.

Q7. Please leave final comments for CBT readers.

I think college students may read this newspaper a lot. At your age, this is a time with a lot of opportunities, so I highly recommend that you try to challenge yourself with something and anything. It does not matter what it is. There is nothing trivial about challenges, so always keep the mindset of “I will challenge myself ALWAYS!” If you fail, do not stop with the thought of failure, but instead keep looking for new opportunities and try again. Since life is a series of challenges, I am always challenging myself. For my own satisfaction and for everyone else’s. You can do it!

By Seok Yeon-ji | duswl1102@chungbuk.ac.kr

By Park Seo-hyun | psh12183@chungbuk.ac.kr