Katherine Lam is an Asian American illustrator who currently lives in New York and works on editorial illustration with big clients such as New Yorker, NY Times, Telegraph. I found her work on Behance, and it has intrigued and drawn me into her dark atmospheres filled with suspense and solitude.
I am inspired by her motivation to work towards her goal. Katherine initially wanted to be an animator. After attending college, she discovered editorial illustration, which deviates from her course. She began experimenting with visual metaphors to communicate a story. Her parents did not support the idea of an art career and her peers discouraged her unconventional direction as a freelance editorial illustrator. However, she still pursued her passion and started small, working with independing publishers, developing her illustration style, and e-mailing around 200 art directors. Gradually, bigger clients were attracted to the way she could deliver real-life stories with her impactful visuals. This inspires me as she discovered what she really liked to do, and set her mind onto it even though it was a path that deviated away from her curriculum, and she did not let people around her influence her career options.
I also admire her own work, the way she implements visual storytelling. She places subtle visual cues and hints that give a deeper meaning to the artwork, and provoke our thoughts on the social issues she illustrates. She plans the compositions and positions of figures very well, along with light and shadow, that we feel distant from the subjects in her illustrations, yet relate to these characters. There is a sense of stillness and calm yet stirs unsettling emotions and suspense.
Overall, I admire these skills, not just an illustrator but as a person who is willing to try an unconventional route.
References
Katherine Lam Illustration. Katherine Lam. (2020). Retrieved 8 October 2020, from http://www.katherinelam.com/.
Katherine Lam illustrates environments and atmospheres | Collater.al. Collateral. (2020). Retrieved 8 October 2020, from https://www.collater.al/en/katherine-lam-illustration-art/.
Katherine Lam. GirlsclubAsia. (2020). Retrieved 8 October 2020, from https://girlsclub.asia/meet-the-artist/katherine-lam/.
Katherine Lam | Communication Arts. Communication Arts. (2020). Retrieved 8 October 2020, from https://www.commarts.com/fresh/katherine-lam.
Classiq. (2020). Retrieved 8 October 2020, from https://classiq.me/creating-a-new-visual-reality-interview-with-illustrator-katherine-lam.