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Hello, and welcome to our second interview! We recently had the honour of collaborating with Meyoco, an incredible artist from Indonesia. Having been fans of hers since 2016, her artwork on our Medium Book covers is something we’re pinching ourselves a little to make sure is real.
The launch was the perfect time to ask Inka about her inspirations, favourite mediums, and the covers she illustrated for us. We thoroughly enjoyed her answers, and we think you will too.
What/who/where do you draw inspiration from the most? Do you have a muse of sorts?
My number one rule is to always draw things that I like. Lately, my favorite thing is drinks, be it their packaging, the content, the colours, etc. When I feel like I don’t quite know what to draw, I love to look at pictures of various drinks and usually they would give me ideas of what to draw next. I also love looking at dessert photos for inspiration!
What mediums do you prefer to use, and what is the best and most challenging part about working with these particular mediums?
My preferred medium is digital media, as I mainly use Photoshop. My favorite thing about using digital media is how easy it is for me to find and use the colours that I like.
With traditional media (I used to use watercolours a lot) it’s not quite as easy, and my colour choices were often limited by both my own skills and the paints that I have. It’s also easier for to make very clean artworks using Photoshop.
The most challenging part about working digitally is perhaps the fact that I still love working using pen and paper. Although I love doing line art digitally, my lines are not quite as expressive when I’m using Photoshop.
What do you think about Mossery collaborating with illustrators, designers, and artists such as yourself to produce cover designs?
I think it’s a really cool thing to do! I’ve always loved how Mossery collaborates with artists in various ways (such as promotions and Inktober). I’m happy the brand also works with artists to create products, and that I get to work with them.
Tell us about your creative process.
I feel that my creative process is very simple and not quite as detailed as other artists. Most of the time, I start by deciding on certain objects or subjects that I like to draw, like drinks, cats, etc. My favorite thing to do is to combine my favorite objects in various ways; tiny birds and teas, soda cans and clouds, game consoles and flowers...
To find new ideas, I like to just randomly browse through Tumblr and try to find new combinations of things to draw. When I finally find a combination that I think is good, usually I will already have a very detailed/specific image in mind. After that, the drawing process will be fairly quick as I never do thumbnails first. I just make a rough sketch, then continue to line art and colours.
Do you believe in talent? Why, or why not?
I don’t quite believe in talent. I believe that some people may have certain predispositions and conditions that make them good at art. I don’t think there’s something like “this person is born with the talent to draw”, but I believe perhaps an artist has the predisposition to perceive and observe things around them in a certain way that makes it easier for them to learn art.
Perhaps their motor skills are slightly better in terms of doing small movements like writing or drawing. Perhaps their environment (family, school) gives them better access to learning art.
Either way, I believe art (not just drawing) is a very complex skill, which is why there’s no such thing as one specific “talent” for it. It’s a combination of many things at once.
We really love the gracefulness of the flamingos and how you’ve combined them with florals – hiding them in plain sight, almost. What was the most challenging part of the process for this design?
For me, the most challenging part was coming up with the idea. The sketching, lining, and colouring process were relatively easy, but coming up with the idea was more challenging.
Just like how the florals are almost hiding in plain sight, good drawing ideas are often hiding in plain sight as well, which ironically does not make them any easier to find.
The cats cover has a humour about it that compliments your style of illustration wonderfully. We’ve noticed that you combine the two often; what draws you to adding humour to your work?
I think humour makes an artwork more interesting and an audience will engage more with the artwork as a result. Sometimes it’s not quite enough for an artwork to look beautiful, it has to be engaging as well. Humour is one way to make an artwork engaging, at least for my work.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
“Please don’t beat yourself up too much for not getting into an art school.” I used to really hate myself for choosing to study something unrelated to art, because I believed that to be able to make a living through art I would have to go to an art school. As it turns out, somehow I managed to find a way to support myself through my art regardless of my education.
If you’re given only one word to describe yourself, what word would it be and why?
I would describe myself as “anxious”! One of the most interesting experience for me is the fact that many people find my work relaxing, while I think of my whole creative process as anxiety-inducing.
While I know I don’t have it quite as bad as other people, sometimes I would grow very anxious over one line or part in my art that I accidentally forgot to colour, or over how many likes my posts are getting.
When I’m anxious I force myself to draw even more, which usually does nothing to improve the quality of my art and in turn will make my anxiety worse. I still have trouble dealing with anxiety sometimes but I’m working on it!
Tell us a secret.
I used to really hate the colour pink! Haha.
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Thank you Inka for taking the time to answer our questions so thoughtfully. Check out her Instagram for a full-fledged burst of colours or shop the collection here!
