Thaw Naing
Illustrator , Artist
Biography
During my young years in a small town in Fiji, there were no toys, television, or video games. Pencil and paper were all I had to occupy my time. Drawing had always been just a quick way to satisfy my soul, so for a very long time it never occurred to me as a possible occupation.
When I was 13, I had an influential encounter. I was perusing a bookstore in Wellington when I came across the 50th anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings illustrated by Alan Lee. To this day I find it difficult to determine whether it was the literary genius of Tolkien or the masterful artwork of Alan Lee that consumed me, but I can remember that as the exact moment I decided I wanted to be an illustrator. Drawing and painting is not a part of my family's history, so I knew that if I wanted to become an artist, it was always going to be an uphill climb.
My first professional illustration job was a School Journal story commissioned by designer Elton Gregory, who saw my university presentation and decided to give me a shot. Elton provided abundant advice and showed me the ropes of working as a professional. I am now freelancing full-time and have had the good fortune to work on many great illustration and concept art projects for various publishers and companies.
What I love about illustration is that every job is unique and often brings new challenges. Each job gives me an opportunity to undertake research, as well as experiment and improve my visual language. I believe continual growth is vital. I’m now looking forward to new challenges, such as writing and illustrating my own books.
If there is any advice I could give: the first is to be self-reliant as possible. Beyond having the self-discipline to deliver a job before its deadline, or the self-motivation to get up in the morning to start drawing, you sometimes have to be your own mentor. Even after I spent four years studying art at university, I quickly found that there were big gaps in my knowledge. It took me six months of self-driven study, where I read every art book I could get my hands on and practiced my fundamental drawing skills, to obtain the knowledge I needed. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I learnt more in my six months of private study than in my four years of university. That isn’t to say that university was unnecessary, but I feel private study allows you to explore avenues without constraint.
My second piece of advice is to understand that art is a lifetime of study. I don’t really believe in the term “talent”. When you consider that talent is merely an understanding of light, form, and the practise of hand–eye co-ordination, it means everything can be obtained through dedication and hard work. For me, art is in the mind; the artwork is just a by-product of something else I’m trying to achieve. As long as you keep pushing yourself with what you’re trying to achieve, you’re pretty much guaranteed to improve with every artwork.