As a creative person, sometimes you have to listen to your inner child. After all, that’s who learned to draw in the first place! Artist Cindy Kang is embracing children’s illustration and discovering new levels of empathy and emotion.
Around this time of year in 2021, we tipped the New York-based . Since then, she’s done some wonderful things for household names like Samsung and Macy’s – but her work in publishing has led to something of an epiphany and she now has a burgeoning passion for illustrating children’s books.
In her art, Cindy likes to explore the theme of growing up whenever possible – living life, facing challenges, and learning lessons. “Creating work for children suits my artistic goal,” she explains. “The entire book-making process has helped me better understand others and myself. I often reflect on my own childhood when working on characters and stories, and before long, you realise that many important answers are found in our childhoods.”
To feed this muse, Cindy has started a personal series about growing up, using natural media such as gouache and coloured pencils as well as digital tools. Before moving to the US in 2009, Cindy lived in Seoul, South Korea, and the artworks evoke small but meaningful moments, like grabbing a hot sweet potato from a food stall on a winter morning.
“I’d love viewers to revisit their childhoods through these works and remember when we cherished the littlest things – perhaps it’s the sensibilities we want to remind ourselves of again,” says Cindy.
Cindy has illustrated a number of children’s books, too – projects that bring their own challenges and rewards. One example is by Carol Kim, aimed at four- to eight-year-olds. With its fascinating topic – the invention of Hangul, the Korean alphabet – it turned out to be a deep dive for Cindy in terms of research.
With her Korean background and childhood spent in Seoul, the project took Cindy back to the Great Joseon period (1392-1897) and mattered to her for a variety of reasons. “It was important to understand not only how the houses and streets looked in King Sejong’s time but also what people valued or had concerns about. You’re learning about others’ lives on a deeper level, and this allowed me to reflect on myself and my childhood and develop empathy. Readers will experience this, but I believe there is something special you learn when you are the one who’s making the art.”
A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2018, Cindy’s other illustrated books include The Can Caravan by Richard O’Neill, Therapy Toolkit, and Good News Planet Earth, with publishers such as Lawrence King and Dorling Kindersley.
While she used digital tools on these projects, she hopes to introduce traditional media to her commercial work, similar to her self-initiated children’s artworks. Children’s illustrations also provide creative releases from commissioned projects.
“I’m fully focused on myself in my personal and children’s work,” she explains. “My colourful style can bring the visual impact and attention my clients’ products deserve. However, as an artist, my interests are more on the internal side of things – people, stories, emotions – which I love to explore and express through my personal works and making books for children.”
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