This weeks designer spotlight focuses on Sun Yoon, a designer inspired by bones and skeletons (perfect for Halloween), and lets her professional animation skills translate to creating a world of fun and fantastic products for her Shapeways Shop, Spooky Bulldog.
Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Where are you located?
I’m an artist located in the Los Angeles area. As I was growing up in Korea, I was a huge fan of anything animated. This lead me to study abroad at the Calarts character animation program. Now, I’m an animation industry professional by day and the creator of my own fantasy world by the night.
What’s the story behind your designs? What inspires you?
I love anything related to bones and skeletons. What I love about them is that they are beyond the superficial beauty that we seek, which is skin deep. They contain so many stories since they’ve been through their life cycle already. They make me think ‘Hey, what’s your story?’ I’d like to tell stories and give life to these bone-y little things through my designs.
What brought you to 3D printing with Shapeways?
As an artist, I create a lot of things using the computer. As I design more and more in 3D, it was a very natural process for me to venture out and seek 3D printing to materialize my designs. After doing some research online, Shapeways was the most accessible 3D printing service to newbies like myself, in terms of pricing, customer service, easy guidelines, etc. Shapeways made 3D printing less intimidating for me to try out for the first time.
How did you learn how to design in 3D?
Working in the animation industry, using 3D software is often a requirement. I started acquiring and learning different kinds of 3D packages as I went along to get different jobs done.
How do you promote your work?
I mainly use Instagram and tumblr. I like using them because they are heavily image based and it makes it easy to find people with similar interests.
Who are your favorite designers or artists? Who in the Shapeways community has served as an inspiration to you?
I love Tim Burton and Mike Mignola’s work. My recent favorite is Anthony Jones who is a concept artist in the game industry. I just love the dark, yet humorous quality of their work. In the Shapeways community, I’m a big fan of Nervous System. It’s inspiring to see that as artists, they don’t stop at what they’re successful at. They continue to experiment with the technology. I especially like their 3D zoetropes, those are a great example of them having fun as artists.
If you weren’t limited by current technologies, what would you want to make using 3D printing?
I’d like to make characters come to life with lots of movements and unique colors. On a small scale, fully 3D printed figures ready for stop motion animation would be amazing, with joints and flexible body parts. On a large scale, a giant installation of moving skeletons would be breath taking.
WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THIS SHOP:
- Beautiful photography! So many different, fun shots that show off all the details
- Great overall theme
- Uses sections well to separate different products
- Calls out most used social platforms in bio
Thank you so much, Sun Yoon! Keep up the lovely work. Don’t forget to follow along on Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest. To be featured, email aimee @ shapeways.com.