The Talented Amberin Huq
Up and coming illustrator Amberin Huq is one talented lady - not only creating fun adorable, characters but also stunning conceptual art. At age 25 she has got a degree in illustration under her wings, worked for various independant production companies, and is now a member of Gradgallery, an art group which aims to promote the work of Falmouth University graduates. Hoping to discover more, I talked to her about inspirations, achievements and, when we realised we live only minutes away from each other, the joys of our home town Surrey (and our local Odeon cinema.)
- You’re a part of a group of artists called Grad Gallery, what’s it all about and how has it helped you to promote your work?
Illustrator Philip Rhys Matthews who I went to university with, had this idea of bringing together illustration graduates of University College Falmouth. The original idea was to create pop up shops wherever possible for a couple of weeks at a time but we’ve moved into the more traditional platform of galleries and exhibitions. It’s always easier to promote your work as a group than as an individual as there are more heads in the game and more feet on the ground which then gives me the confidence to step out on my own.
- How many artists are part of Grad Gallery and what kind of art are you all involved in?
At the moment there are 11 members as part of the Gradgallery collective all graduates of Falmouth and we’re involved in a lot of different practices from fashion photography to greetings card designs from publishing to concept art. When you come to see our exhibitions you definitely get a wide variety of work and styles which I think keeps us unique and it means that there’s something for everyone.
- What is Grad Gallery involved in currently?
At the moment we’re focusing on our online presence, we’ve rebooted our website and set up facebook and twitter pages. As for exhibitions two of my fellow artists Sophia Bloxham and Lucy Boden are exhibiting as part of the Open Air Exhibitions at Montpellier Gardens Cheltenham between from 3rd July till 9th July where we had a pretty successful exhibition a couple of months ago and will be exhibiting altogether again next July.
- Is it inspiring to be a part of something with so many other types of artists? Has it affected your work?
I’m definitely proud to be a part of such a diverse collective of artists and though we don’t get together very often given the fact we’re so scattered around the country when we do it is a sight to be seen and makes it all worthwhile. As for how it affects my work being around high quality artists who are constantly working on their style definitely pushes me further to become a stronger narrative artist.
- Do you have a favourite artist within Grad Gallery whose work you particularly like?
I have to say that I quite like the detail in the work of Amy Brazier and the characters that Lucy Boden creates but I do have an infinite soft spot for the work of Philip Rhys Matthews. Not only can he draw me under the table but his imagination knows no bounds. Also he’s taking a new direction at the moment delving into the world of fashion photography and the images he conjures up are absolutely stunning in my opinion.
- And outside of Grad Gallery do you have a favourite artist? Why?
My absolute favourite artist is Shaun Tan, he creates children’s books that push the boundary of what a children’s book is. He creates lushly realized paintings with great atmosphere, my favourite book being The Red Tree. The stories are simple but cleverly realized each in their own format depending on what story he’s trying to tell. Wordless storytelling is something im fascinated by which he tackled in The Arrival. It was a treat watching him win an Oscar for the animated short The Lost Thing. The other big inspiration isn’t an artist but Pixar. Everything they create they create out of love for the project and story always comes first which I admire.
- You create (absolutely adorable!) characters - do you draw inspiration from people you know/people you meet?
Thanks! Erm, I can’t really say where I get inspiration from. I’m a big believer in being inspired by what you see so I am constantly observing and reading and writing but when I sit down to draw my characters, if there isn’t a brief, then I pretty much draw whatever comes out. I build the character as I draw and I would be naive to think that wasn’t coloured by the people I meet and know.
I get a lot of inspiration from architecture, from other artists. I do tend to trawl the net for pre-production concept drawings for animations and films, that’s a big source of inspiration for me because storytelling is such a big deal to me. To create images that lead the eye around the page, the best way to learn I’ve found is through storyboard artists and concept artists. Guillermo Del Toro, Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton are also good places to start!
- There’s obviously a lot of work behind each one then! How long does it take for you to create each character?
It depends really, if it’s just a character design it might take me a day and a half start to finish, but a full bleed illustration like ‘Monster?’ would take me about three days from conception to finish.
- Which has been your favourite character to work on and why?
My favourite characters to work on have been the two girls in Bubbles and Flower Girl as they were created solely for a Gradgallery exhibition and so there was no ‘committee guidance’. They were the result of pure intuitive drawing which meant that I could create whatever I wanted without restraint.
- You’re obviously talented and passionate about what you do - did you know this was the career path for you?
Not always, there was a moment when I was a kid where I thought being a lawyer would be a good idea, but my inability to follow rules would probably have made me quite a rubbish one. But as long as I can remember I’ve always been creative in one way or another so I guess yes…I’ve known for a long time that I’ve wanted to be creative and I think deep down I knew it would be illustration in the end because I’ve always fancied storytelling.
- You work mainly in acrylic - have you ever ruined anything whilst painting (as acrylic is almost impossible to get off!)
Do you mean clothes? Because every piece of clothing I own is covered in tiny bits of acrylic paint where I’ve unknowingly dipped my sleeve in it. There’s not much you can do about it…but I’ve gotten so used to this inevitable occurance!
- When not accidentally dipping your clothing in paint - what are you working on currently as an individual artist?
At the moment I’m working on creating strong, visually engaging work that tells a story. I’m always looking for new projects to collaborate on. A collaboration I’m working on at the moment is a social art project which we’re hoping to get off the ground in the next month. As well as that I’m giving writing and illustrating my own children’s book a go, fingers crossed I can create something worthwhile.
- That would be amazing! What achievement/work are you most proud of so far?
I suppose the thing I’m proudest of is the work I did with the Half Moon Theatre for Young people. I collaborated with several artists who’d never worked in theatre before to create an innovative forward looking piece for stage called ‘FRAGmental’ for young people in about 6 days over three months. The fact that we managed to create a quality piece of work in such a short amount of time was exciting but working and collaborating with artists and performers was a definite highlight.
- You’ve achieved so much already but where do you hope to be in 1 year, and finally in 10 years time?
Well in a year I’m hoping to be finishing up doing an MA in Illustration and Animation at Kingston University (you can never stop learning after all!) and starting to prep for the next Gradgallery exhibition in Cheltenham. In 10 years time?? That’s a tricky one…the dream answer would be to say that I’ll be a full time illustrator in some shape or form, that’s all I really want, to be able to draw for the rest of my life, is that so much to ask??? And hopefully Gradgallery will still be around and that we’ll all be established illustrators in our own right.
- Oh, you’re going to Kingston University, I live in Kingston, how strange!
How strange you live in kingston! I only live a bit away from there, near Epsom! Yeah, I’ve been hearing lots about Kingston from people I’ve told I’m going there! I mainly just picked it because it was closest to me! How odd, hey?
-I’m basically from Epsom! How crazy is this, what a small world.
I live in Cheam and have been here most of my life! Also I used to work on the floor at the Odeon in Epsom so if you’ve ever been in there I probably served you popcorn!
Amberin Huq can paint, draw, design characters and create conceptual art. She’s friendly, polite and talented. She lives round the corner and is a dab hand at serving sweet refreshments. If that’s not impressive I literally don’t know what is! <3
