Growing up on the eastern side of the world I found myself drawing on walls and floors for inspiration. There was so much art but no where to find people who created it. Tarin Yuangtrakul is an artist from Thailand and his culture and his art have one thing in common: Beauty. If you look closely his illustrations have a story to tell or they have a deep symbolic meaning.
*I had previously interviewed Chris Valentine and I noticed that he had done collaborative work with Tarin.
What is it like being a designer in Thailand?
It’s not so popular in Thailand, I think. There are many groups of designers, but they’re quite small. Nowadays, it’s been growing with the changing lifestyle of people. Probably, many people here don’t know what designers are going to do, even though design is all around them, that’s a problem. In my perspective, being a designer is very interesting (sometimes, little bit tiring) because it lets me to think of several things for creating work, especially, I can use my imagination to communicate or explain about my idea with people who are my target market. I hope that designers in Thailand will be rising up. I’ve seen the light at the end of this cave.
Does artistic talent run in the family?
Fortunately, I was born in the creative family. I always think that I’m so lucky to be here. I’m very proud to say that my mom is interior designer, my dad and my brother are architects. When I was a little boy, I saw my dad, my mom, and my brother drawing pictures, that’s so great at that moment. Thus, the inspiration for drawing pictures was started from that time.
What do you like best about design?
Design is so attractive for me. I’m focusing on Graphic Design and Illustration. They’re the most two favorite fields. I’ve been learning about design for long time. Now I’m studying in Graphic Design. It can teach me many useful things that I might overlook or I’ve just learnt. Before I get in here, I did only illustrations since I didn’t know how to use programs to do computer graphic things. I love to use pencils mixed with digital things, so my way is going to be in these fields, Drawing, Digital Art, Illustration, and Graphic Design.
What is your source of inspiration?
My inspirations come from everywhere I walk and everything I face. Mostly, I want to make my work looks deep like it’s hard to understand, but yes, I want you all to think what I want to say. People’s daily lives often inspire me in both a positive way and a negative way, but the negative is more obvious. This point brings me to make my work as you can see. Seeing several works from other artists and designers help me to open my mind widely. I’ve been a member in Behance Network, this site is so beneficial. I’ve known many people worldwide from it.
It causes me to know that I’m a tiny point in the world, so many designers are awesome, etc. This world has many talented people as I said.
How do you think artists should handle criticism?
Critique improves yourself. If you can’t handle that, you can’t improve yourself.
How does your culture affect your art?
My culture helps me about thinking of what I’m going to write a story to my work, drawing lines also. I used to learn how to draw thai style picture by myself. That’s so nice and very interesting, containig many details in this style. That’s why I’ve to give precedence to all my work.
Who are your favorite artists?
It’s dificult to name all of the artists. I just think up with these names: Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali for long time, Grzegorz Domaradzki, Jared Nickerson, and Michal Tarka. There are so many people that I can’t remember or find their names, sorry about it.
Tell us something weird or random about yourself.
I am always easily angered, feeling sad because of something I don’t understand deeply. Another thing, I like cute things (character, doll, etc.) though you can see my work style like that.
What are your hobbies?
The top of my lifestyle are drawing picture, listening to music, and playing the guitar. I’m really happy to do these things.
What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?
I want to say something short to everyone, just keep trying and don’t give up your goal!
All great artists deserve a great audience! Have a look at Tarin Yuangtrakul’s work.
You can also visit Tarin Yuangtrakul’s Blog.
More images from the artists:
