Ten by Fotolia - Season 2 - Soongyu gwon - South korea - Lifestyle

Hello, I am Soongyu Gwon. I am a graphic designer and I live in Seoul, South Korea. I have always been interested in art and design. I went to a private academy but I remember nothing I learned about it then. However, I have always enjoyed playing with Photoshop. I am an art director at a design studio called D.FY in Seoul. D.FY purses a wide range of online/office projects with people from diverse backgrounds. I used to work for a web design agency before joining D.FY. I enjoy working for agencies as I can do all kinds of different projects which allows me to have diverse experiences. My favorite part is to be surrounded by people who have similar interests as we discuss and work on these projects together. I prefer staying at home to going out. I tend to look at other people's work posted on the net - web design, video clips, typography, illustrations, package design, photography…. My favorite genres are films, animation and comics. I was mesmerized by Braindead (released as Dead Alive in N.America) directed by Peter Jackson in my high school days. Since then, I became a big fan of horror movies. I love contemporary yet futuristic stories like Ghost in the Shell(攻殼機動隊) by Mamoru Oshii. These are my inspirations and what I have been mostly influenced by. I am not good at drawing and I mostly work based on photos. I spend a lot of time on image selection. Once I find the right ones, I put them all in one piece and edit them by focusing on the texture of each image. I don't like specific effects or presets Instead, I try to indentify and make standout the unique look and feel of the original image. I have been working as and been called a designer however I still feel that I am not one. I am not just a web designer and I am not good enough to be referred as an illustrator. If I have to define myself, even though it may sound a bit cliché ... a digital image creator...? First of all, I choose the subject, and what I want to express. Then, I try to list as many keywords as I can related to it. The next step is finding good photos perfectly matching these keywords. Sometimes, I take some photos to get the perfect ones for what I need. Then, I create the overall composition with all the images that I found. In this stage, I add some more images or take others out. Once satisfied with my overall composition, I work on details. Finally, the color adjustment always comes last. I often have to compromise on or give up my own vision for my clients. However, I can try out whatever I want to do without any compromise on my personal projects. Plus, they allow me precious time for self-reflection. South Korea's 5,000 year long history and its culture is ever present... especially the beauty of negative space and the harmony with nature - both can be easily found in various Korean cultural treasures and architectures. I am trying to see, feel and integrate them as much as possible to make my professional / personal works richer.