Meet Ailien Suarez-perez

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ailien Suarez-perez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ailien, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

One of my favorite professors in college once told us, “As long as you read stories, watch movies, or even look at your surroundings you’ll never have art block.” That stuck with me because I always come up with ideas or stories in my head but I never really thought about how I go to that point until they told us that. My art is just a big mixing bowl of everything I’ve ever seen, read, listened, even tasted. With the help of social media, I’m constantly adding new ingredients to my bowl.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a Mexican-Ecuadorian Illustrator, born and raised in Atlanta. I have a BFA in Illustration with a concentration in entertainment , or rather will have by then end of this year. My speciality is in splash illustrations, backgrounds and style frames, although I do a little bit of everything. When I was younger, I would always mess around with acrylic paints then as I grew older I slowly switched over to digital art. Today, most of my illustrations are digital with some traditional textures scattered around. I tend to lean towards a semi-realistic style but sometimes I switch over to a more graphic style just for fun. On my off time I usually play video games, even though I’m not the best, and of course I draw. An awful lot. I usually post my works on Instagram (alie.nbunnie) but I have lots of other places you can find me on. As of right now, I’m working towards adding more items to my online shop over on Etsy. (alienbunnie)

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For me, learning proper anatomy helped out immensely. Yes it was a struggle but boy did I come out of that whole lesson better than I was before. A really good way to practice would be figure drawing. Having someone pose or just looking at the people around you can doing a quick minute sketch before they move not only helped with anatomy but also helped with speed.

Another pillar for me is values. Most of my illustrations have strong dramatic lighting, and knowing how light reacts to certain object really helped in creating visually striking pieces. I don’t really have much of a technique to share other than just observe what’s around you. Don’t be afraid to set up a lamp and see how light bounces off a cup or holding your arm out in the sun to see how skin glows.

And lastly, patience. Oh my goodness so much patience. It was not an easy process to get to the skill level of where I am now. There were definitely times where I thought to myself “maybe going down this path was the wrong choice”, it’s okay to have doubts but what’s never okay is to let those harmful thoughts win.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My end goal was always to work for Riot Games and create splash illustrations for their champions. Ever since day one, that has been my goal. Around 2018, I learned about a virtual kpop group by the name of KDA. I listened to their songs and loved it, so naturally I dug deeper to find out how this genius idea came to be. I then found out that they came from an online game called League of Legends. I thought, “Sure let’s give it a try” and the moment I saw the illustrations for their champions, I knew that’s exact what I wanted to do. I’ve always known I wanted to do something in art but I never knew what exactly, until that day. It would be an absolute dream being able to collaborate with artists and bring such gorgeous illustrations to life.

However, a jillion other people have the same dream as me so getting there is going to be a little difficult. Which is why if I don’t get a chance to reach that goal, I’ll be satisfied working on any game project. I’m currently helping with the promotional material for an indie game called Scour set to release in a couple months on Steam. Working with such talented people really cemented the thought of where in the industry I wanted to be in.

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