My name is Jia Liu and I am first year student in Illustration Practice Program. During the summer of 2015, I was an intern illustrator for Port Discovery Children’s Museum. I always identify myself as an illustrator for children’s picture book and I really like to create all kinds of work for children. I taught kids art classes for three years when I was in China and I would like to do any job related to children and my major. I was planning to do summer intern since I came to MICA so I was always aware of any opportunities.
At the end of first semester I received an email from our GTA about this intern that Port Discovery need an illustrator to create some illustration for their come exhibit which is about agriculture. I thought this was a perfect job for me because I really like to draw plants and animals and create work for kids, so I emailed their art director. They replied me soon and they gave me an interview, they thought the playfulness in my work could match their theme very well so they decide to offer me this internship.
My experience was really exciting there because it was my first time to cooperate with many people and learn how to fit my illustration in a big space and interact with children. Almost every illustration I did need to interact with children. For instance one series of three illustrations is about different festivals celebrating agriculture in different culture. At the same position of each illustration, there would be an animation in a case connect with my illustration, so it limited the possibility of the composition but I learnt a lot in that way. And they want me to illustrate the background because they tried many other ways like photo collage but it didn’t work well, at this point, illustration became a solution to resolve problems.
Though my internship here I learned how illustration works in real life and a real project, and how illustration can solve the problems that other methods can’t. And I am more clear about what I can do with my art. I think this is a wonderful experience for me right before my thesis year! I will keep on exploring how to give my illustration more practical meanings.
