Ringling College of Art & Design student wins international award for illustration

In the "Fairy Godfather," an old steampunk repairman fixes the wings of fairies instead of 19th-century machines. A female elf journeys through a red desert to reach a mythical dragon in "Sandy Traveler." "Forgotten and Found" is also about a traveler, but this one stumbles upon the skeleton of a colossus.

Helen Yi's imagination gets the best of her.

"When I think of fantasy, it reminds me of games that I played when I was little, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Magic the Gathering," said Yi, a Ringling College of Art & Design sophomore majoring in Illustration. "The art I wanted to do wasn't for myself or my ego. It was for the audience. For entertainment."

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Yi's illustrations outshined an international cohort of nearly 200 artists and will be honored on April 29 at the Taglyan Cultural Complex in Hollywood as a winner in the 35th annual Illustrators of the Future Contest. Her work will be published in May in "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers & Illustrators of the Future, Volume 39."

Yi, 20, started drawing before she started walking, copying characters from comic books.

"My earliest piece of drawing was when I was 6 months old," Yi said. "It is not an exaggeration to say that I have been drawing since I was born. I was always that 'art kid' since preschool and have been ever since."

Yi was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, and raised in Seoul, South Korea. Her grandfather was a sculptor and her grandmother is an artist. Her mother works in the design industry. Her father took her to movies as a child and encouraged her with books.

"Illustrating has been integrated in my life for so long that I wasn't conscious of what motivated me," Yi said. "There is an interview of Yuna Kim, a famous Korean figure skater, where she says she doesn't think during warmup. She just does it. That was exactly how I've treated art."

Kim's artistry earned her the 2010 Olympic gold medal and two world championships. Yi's method has a variety of influencers.

"I used to be fascinated by artists who produced highly rendered paintings like Herbert James Draper, especially the famous 'The Lament of Icarus,'" Yi said. "How he juxtaposed objects and his use of organic colors are astounding. Recently, I've been into the works of the film director Baz Luhrmann. ... The way he edits scenes and juxtaposes it is a pure work of art – not to mention the unique storytelling. He makes me want to try new art styles and color schemes that are more flashy and flamboyant."

A winning tradition for Ringling

Yi said she chose Ringling College partly because "traditional art schools often consider art as a sacred act that has to portray the artist's life on a personal level."

“Ringling College was different,” Yi said. “I have always dreamt of becoming a visual development artist and there are only a few art schools that are known to teach the skills needed to become one.”

Yi also is in the running for the contest's Golden Brush Award. The 12 finalists for the grand prize include Alaya Knowlton, a Booker High School graduate, who is studying fine arts at the University of Southern California.

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Ringling College students have built a winning tradition in the Illustrators of the Future Contest. Zaine Lodhi won the Golden Brush Award for the 2021 competition. Mariah Salinas (2020) and Jazmen Richardson (2018) were quarterly winners.

The Illustrators of the Future Contest was judged by Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards; seven Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons), Echo Chernik (corporate designs, including Celestial Seasonings), Rob Prior ("Spawn" and "Heavy Metal" comics; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), and Ciruelo Cabral ("Official Eragon Coloring Book"). Former winners have gone on to produce more than 6,000 commercial illustrations, 360 comic books, 624 book and album covers, and visually contributed to 68 TV shows and 40 major movies.

Yi's award includes a cash prize and a weeklong workshop with top professionals in the arts and entertainment industry.

"Thanks to my father, I've always been fascinated by how film grabs the audience," Yi said. "I would even feel like the characters live in me after the movie has ended. I wish I can be a part of these productions and make the audience feel the same sensation as I once did."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ringling College student wins Illustrator of the Future contest