We were first introduced to the work of Korean illustrator and motion designer Minji Moon via her series, 30 Under 30, which featured portraits of different 30-year-old professionals across China. Whether it be doctors, veterinarians, or engineers, vocations of all varieties were equally celebrated in the project, portrayed as androgynous characters in vivid colors and eye-catching patterns. Despite Moon’s bold palettes, there’s an elegant simplicity to her work that feels remarkably original.
初次关注韩国插画和动态图形设计师 Minji Moon，是源于她的系列作品《三十而立》。歌手、医生、猫奴、程序员……她描绘了人们各种各样的身份角色，却用大胆跳跃的颜色消解了传统意义上的人种、性别和肤色。用极简的手法描绘肖像人物，是 Minji 作品中最大的特征。
The creative cornerstone of Moon’s art revolves around a singular question: “What can I remove to simplify the work?” With this philosophy, her artworks are concise. Designed to convey a certain mood or message with the bare minimum, every element that remains in frame serves a purpose. Whether it be a stethoscope, a pair of earrings, or a line of code flashing on a computer screen—her deliberate placements look to deliver the necessary information in a succinct yet playful way.
Minji 独特的风格，来自于她时常扪心自问的问题：“还有没有什么东西要删掉？还能不能更简单？”因而在她的插画里不存在繁复的细节，但每一个代表性的物件都缺一不可，比如医护人员脖子上的听诊器、绕在天鹅脖子上的保暖围巾。Minji 的叙述语言简洁明了，试图邀请观看者以最简单快速的方式直接进入到她画中世界。
Moon’s use of colors is another distinctive aspect of her work. Her color pairings are often unexpected, but she makes them work. Color experiments are nothing new to her though; they can be traced back to her childhood, where she often spent entire afternoons hunched over a coloring book with a set of crayons. Playing around with how colors can be mixed and matched never failed to bring a smile to her face. This early love of color is what led Moon into the art world where she’s now brought to life a range of characters painted in greens, magentas, cyans, and more. “It gives them a fresh look that’s different from real life,” Moon explains of her approach. “The sense of unfamiliarity also allows audiences the freedom to interpret who the person is for themselves.”
而另一个在她作品中异常重要的元素：色彩，则是 Minji 有意用实验性的方式来打破一般物体应该有的颜色的刻板印象。
对从小就喜欢和颜色玩游戏的 Minji 来说，端看不同颜色在不同组合下展现出参差而缤纷的层次，是件异常快乐的事情。而这种激情随之引导着她步入插画艺术这一领域，并一路走来成为了插画师。
在她的好几件作品中，绿色、紫色、蓝色，都可以作为她笔下人物的皮肤颜色。“它给人带来了我们在现实生活中不常见的新鲜感，也带来了多样性，让观众可以自由地诠释这个人物是谁。”她如是说。
With her affinity for peculiar colors and shapes, it’s clear that realism isn’t a top priority for Moon. But at the same time, she has no interest in making art that can’t be easily understood. “If you’re about to paint an apple, painting it with full fidelity isn’t difficult if you’re practicing enough,” she says. “But to me, turning the apple into something simpler by removing unnecessary elements while retaining its essence as an apple is much more creatively challenging. In this regard, I believe simplicity is the ultimate form of beauty.”
简化的形状加之鲜艳的色彩，是 Minji 深受吸引且努力追寻的风格。但她并不想让画面简化得太抽象，“比方说，有一个苹果，你要画它。把苹果画得和你眼睛看到的一样准确，只要你练习得足够多，就很容易实现。但要把苹果画得简单，就需要创造性地去掉你所看到的不必要的东西，但又要保持苹果的概念。”Minji 表示，“我有这样的信念，简单就有极致的美。”
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Website: minjimoon.com
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Contributor: Chen Yuan
