Just One Hybrid Super Designer

What is your occupation now?

My main expertise is illustration, but nowadays it is getting more diverse: I love to paint murals, make animations or creating info-graphics.

What expertise did you gain at WdKA?

I think that the academy taught me how to look at my work in a more critical way, never choose the most common idea and learn how to dive deeper into my thoughts to have a less predictable outcome. Although this really has formed my creativity, being too critical can sometimes drive me nuts and slow down the creative process.

What is the future of your profession in your opinion?

I think that lots and lots of illustrators will try to do more than only ’illustration’, because nowadays it is really easy to learn something new and illustration as a profession is pretty close to other disciplines like graphic design, animation or fine art. Maybe the illustrator will become just one hybrid super designer. I personally really like that, because I like the challenge of applying my illustration style to different disciplines - it also gives me the chance to work on a wider variety of projects.

You never leave your house without…? Besides your laptop or smartphone :).

A clear mind, I am always full of thoughts and sometimes I forget things because of that. Once I forgot my key and locked myself outside my apartment, and had to search on my phone how to break into a door without a key. In the end, I managed to open my door with a restaurant flyer that I had in my pocket.

Any words of advice to future students?

Don’t get disappointed if the teachers don’t like your work, because the most successful artists I know had bad grades in the art academy :).

Name your favourite recent project.

For the Central library of Rotterdam I made all the visuals for a permanent exhibition named “Erasmus Experience”. Together with creative agency IN10, we have created an interactive exhibition where people can learn about Desiderius Erasmus. Using a wristband, people can answer the quotes that are written on the walls. The goal of the questions is to help forming your own opinion, and to show how these questions are very relevant to the ones Erasmus pondered 500 years ago. Besides the wall illustrations I also designed the decoration on the interior and made all the assets for the animations.

Visit Ming's site to see what he is working on right now.