Interview (Illustrator Aliyah Coreana)

Interview with Aliyah Coreana 

Website:https://aliyahcoreana.com/

Instagram: @aliyahart

As a passionate illustrator studying illustration in university, I often find that people don’t talk a lot about the creative industry coming straight out of university. So, I took it upon myself to find an illustrator who works in the creative field so they could share their story and struggles on how they became a successful illustrator or artist. I wanted to find someone that had a strong passion for what they were doing and showed a lot of pride and confidence in their work, someone who wasn’t afraid to share their own experience and journey on becoming an illustrator. Looking through social media, I got in contact with Aliyah Coreana, an illustrator whom I follow who is someone I really admire when it comes to illustration. I’ve seen her work on social media and I always thought that the way she presents herself through her artwork is very inspiring and she’s someone who isn’t afraid to cross boundaries and express her feelings or thoughts throughout her work.

Aliyah studied at City of Westminster college doing art and design BTEC course, enjoying what she was doing she decided to go to Ravensbourne university studying animation. She really enjoyed the course as she had an interest in animation and could see that her work would progress well by doing this course, although she could see herself doing illustration a lot more she really enjoyed it and explained that she had great tutors who supported her a lot along the way during her university years. However, everything wasn’t perfect for her, she found that the course was a little too repetitive and she lost interest in the subject saying that it was very tedious and a lot of hard work. She much enjoyed the idea of doing illustration, she had a passion and drive to draw creating illustrations where she could express her emotions and thoughts. she much rather calls herself an illustrator or artist.

After graduating from university, she explains how job hunting isn’t as easy as it may seem. We often say that this stage is the hardest for young adults that have just come out of university, for a student like me it is so easy to fall in the trap of believing that we could get a good salary-based job right after. However, this is not always the case as finding a progressive job in the creative industry can actually be quite hard, Aliyah talked about this and shared her personal views on this topic stating that most companies out there would show more judgement to you depending on your race or gender, of course this doesn’t happen to all of them out there but it does happen to a few. For someone who is an ethnic minority, this was something that shocked me a lot as not a lot of people talk about this side of the creative industry and to hear from this now is something that prepares me for my future.

Putting her foot in the creative industry, she worked as an art technician in a school. She fell in love with the environment and learned a lot from this job role. Starting her own animation club for students, teaching young individuals about animation and illustration is something she very much enjoyed. Explaining that even though she was teaching in the after school club, she learned a lot from the students as they were able to give honest feedback and opinions on her personal work. I personally found this very interesting, not a lot of people would think about doing this, this was a great way where creative individuals could share their teachings with other creatives. This is a topic that inspired me a lot in terms of helping other artists out there, often we forget that a lot of us are in the same boat and competing against each other happens a lot. To be able to see artists helping each other out is what we all as creatives need to do.

For a student like me, I always find it really interesting to see the process behind a creative’s work. So, from this Aliyah kindly shared her process on how she creates her pieces. She starts off by sketching down some ideas, then from this she completes her first sketch. After taking a photo or using a scanner to send it to herself, she follows up by playing around and editing her sketch on photoshop or illustrator. She always likes to start off with playing around with colour then outlining everything once she has added some shading and definition to her work. Experimenting with different tools or brushes digitally she’s always determined to push boundaries and try different ways to illustrate her idea or message. Using her Wacom tablet and pen she finishes off by doing any final touches or adjustments that need to be made so it’s ready to share to her followers or for the public.

Overall, I found that this interview was very helpful for my essay as it got me to understand the process, meaning and journey on her creative work. Having a lack of confidence in my artwork sometimes, I often found it really difficult to put my artwork out there and to have this interview with her in person it really made me realise that all creatives go through the same thing. We should all show our passion for what we love to do for everyone to see. 

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