Cheong-ah Hwang's Response

Hi, Gemma,

Thanks for contacting me! I'm glad to answer your questions, but since writing in English is a bit challenge for me, and I need my studio time as much as possible these days, I'll do that a little bit at a time, if it's ok with you.

Q: What kind of things are you inspired by? Do you have any particular designers that you look at? Are you inspired by literature?

A: I get inspired by other people's work. It can be any art form such as performing arts, literature, visual arts. It doesn't have to be professional artists' work. A well-made wonderful piece of art can be created by anybody.

Q: You create some stunning paper cut images, did you attend any paper craft classes or did you teach yourself these skills?

A: Thank you. I did not take any classes for that. I learned all my techniques through "Paper Sculpture: A Step-By-Step Guide", and "More Paper Sculpture" by Kathleen Ziegler, and Nick Greco. Skills are not hard to learn, but those books have many wonderful paper sculpture artists' work that shows how they apply those techniques to their pieces. These days, I find more paper sculptors on line.

To be continued......

Best,
Cheong-ah


Q: You work with a lot of paper, what other tools do you like to work with?

A: I use Exacto knife, Scissors, embossing tools, sculpture tools, but my favorite and the tool I use the most is my fingers. I took clay sculpture classes when I was teen. I tend to treat the paper like as if it's clay.

Q: I especially love your images of 'Alice in wonderland' and the 'Little Red Riding Hood' image, did you sketch out the composition all of these images out first and then begin to construct the paper layers?

A: That's right. Sketch is very important part of my work process.

Q: How do you create the three dimensional effect within your images? I think this is a fantastic skill, it brings all your work to life!

A: Thanks. I put a little piece behind shapes. You can see it here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/papernoodle/sets/72157625072437644/ When your work is just for printed material, you can put any supports like foam board. I make my supports in the way that they can blend with the sculpture as much as possible because those supports can be seen in the original piece in person, and it's very ugly.

To be continued.....

Q: Do you photograph all your work yourself or do you have to work with a professional photographer to get the perfect shots?

A: I take photographs. It's incredibly difficult for me. Working on Photoshop helps me a lot.

Q: What kind of briefs or commissions do you think your style of work lends itself well to?

A: I'd really like to get illustration commissions for storybooks. That'll be my dream come true.

Q: And my last question is : Would I be able to display this information onto my blog?

A: Yes, of course. Thanks for blogging about my work.


Gemma, good luck on your future!

Best wishes,