‘Lion Dogs’ and a ticking clock: Minh-Ngoc Huynh discusses her Generate experience
On Friday, Oct. 5 and Saturday, Oct. 6, hundreds of SCAD Atlanta students participated in the 12th annual SCAD Generate creative challenge. Founded by the sequential art department in 2006, Generate is a 24-hour event where students from a variety of majors aim to create a work of art from start to finish within a given timeframe, depending on the major. The challenges are often sponsored by companies looking to hire SCAD students after they graduate.
The Connector interviewed several Generate participants about their experiences in this three-part series
The illustration challenge this year was to design three skateboard decks in 24 hours. One or two designs may be submitted instead of three, but to be eligible for the grand prize — a Wacom tablet — an artist had to submit three designs focused on a single theme. The Connector interviewed illustration graduate student Minh-Ngoc Huynh about this challenge.
The Connector: How did you approach the challenge? What were your inspirations?
Huynh: Sometime around the beginning of my first quarter at SCAD, I had a class with Professor Thomas Burns. He gave us a rather large, lined sheet of paper and told us to list 100 things that we liked to draw. This helped me put into perspective who I am as an artist and what my values and interests are. I made a shorter version of that list — about 10 things. I looked at my list for an idea on my aesthetic and theme. Then, I had to consider the time and my experience as an artist. I am not fast at illustrating, so I had to factor in the time restriction. I went with something that I would consider a faster style — cartoons.
My concept was to have something that represents Asian Americans. The “Lion Dog” is a mythical animal in Eastern Asian culture that came about through trading with Europeans. The Europeans described lions to East Asians and the closest animal they had for comparsion was a dog. One board had a shiba inu on it with Eastern flowers, another had a lion with roses and the center board was the Lion Dog with the shiba inu and lion.
The Connector: Did you work the entire 24 hours?
Huynh: This was the first time I have ever done an event like this. I worked from 10 a.m. to around 2 a.m. I finished the line work for all three boards. I couldn’t give the color and details the attention that they deserved, so I only managed to submit one. However, I was in awe of my peers. There were two girls that sat next to me in the cintiq lab. I only saw them get up maybe two or three times in the 15 hours I was there. They were amazing, and their boards were totally out of this world!
The Connector: Do you have any advice for people hoping to participate in Generate in the future?
Huynh: Don’t delay, go with your gut. You don’t have time. The thing about the illustration department’s challenge is that I knew we were designing skateboard decks. This gave me time to think about what I wanted to do. However, I was torn between two ideas. I should have just walked in with one idea and thumbnailed ways to make an interesting design that required less effort on my part. A smart tactic I saw a lot of people do is having the same backgrounds for their boards, but different illustrations. This is a massive time saver.
Know your limits and don’t compare yourself to others. It’s okay to know when to quit. Honestly, I felt like a failure for only submitting one, but I had to remind myself that this was my first time participating in Generate. I only started making art very recently and therefore have less experience working under time pressure. Above all else, I had to think about the quality of my work. If this is something that I am not proud to put my name on, that is fine. This isn’t for a grade — it’s all in good fun, to gain experience and to meet new people in my department. If I managed to do all of that, then I’m certainly no failure.
