2025 ILLUSTRATION AWARDS

Cici Suen (UK)​

COMICS GOLD MEDAL iJUNGLE ILLUSTRATIONS AWARDS 2019

http://www.cicisuen.com

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1. Can you tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, where you studied, and where you are at now?

I was born and grew up in Beijing, graduated from Camberwell College of Arts, University of Arts London in 2017. I’m living in London now..

 

2. Why did you become a comic artist/ illustrator?

I found my passion since I was a kid and my mom supported me a lot, so I went to art-focused middle school and then studied illustration in London. During the course in Camberwell, I discovered my own illustration style and started to draw comics.

 

3. What artists/things do you most admire and how did they influence your work?

I really admire Lorenzo Mattotti who is an artist from Italy. His powerful and emotional work influenced me a lot. 4. How did you find your style? Has it changed since you started? My style keeps changing and every time when I stuck I’ll try different materials to find a new world.

 

5. Can you briefly describe your creative process?

When I work on a graphic novel, I’ll read the whole novel and find a suitable style for it. I transfer the novel to storyboard sentence by sentence, make them connect very well then start to draw.

 

6. Best and worst part of your job.

Best: I enjoy every step of creating comic and illustration. Worst: I have to draw scary things sometimes. Once my project was about dissecting lab mice, but it was a good challenge.

 

7. Quick answers.

Favorite movies: I Lost My Body Favorite musics to work: Film soundtrack Favorite Hobbies: Following squirrel Magic wish: Give me three more right hands please

 

8. What is the best piece advice you’ve had, in regards to comics/illustration or otherwise?

Observe life and nature.

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