Nami (N): Could you please introduce yourself?

Alexandra (A): My name is Alexandra León. I was the 1st year student from illustration department when I was in your course. Now I will go to the 2nd academic year.

N: You have just finished your first year in the academy! How have you experienced being in WDKA (Willem de Kooning Academy) so far?

A: WDKA is a very different from universities in Romania. I think the learning experience here is based on 'you', 'your initiative' , and 'creativity'. It's not static because you can't predict classes how they will be like. In Romania, there is a fixed schedule and you know what you're taught during the semester.

N: Indeed, I remember you told me you're from Romania. I also have a good Romanian friend that I studied together in WDKA. She is an amazing person, as well as a brilliant designer. What made you come to the school, by the way?

A: I didn't precisely know the academy, but I knew it had nice the working stations after some research. This convinced me that the learning here will be more based on creativity.

N: I agree. The facilities of the school is very nice. One thing that you mentioned, you said in Romania you rather have a fixed academic schedule but here is more flexible. I really know what you mean because I also felt the same when I compared WDKA to most of Korean education institutions. Have you ever hoped to have a bit more structure though?

A: Sometimes I have, but It generally helps me to being more independent.

N: It is nice that you consider that aspect positive. I'm actually also learning from the students through this interview project. I thought a lot of them would have many complaints about their current education, but people say they're generally happy here. Maybe I made preassumption based on myself in the past, being grumpy :p. Sorry if my question sounded like artificially drawing your negative thoughts!

A: No worries! I understand :)

N: Over the past one year, you must have done a few different projects in the academy. Can you please tell me a project that you enjoyed the most at the Illustration department?

A: There was a poster-creating project. It was a little more commercial than previous projects but I enjoyed it because I was able to just play with the conceptual and technical skills that I have accumulated. The first project was making a lot of illustration materials upon a small story. It was 50 different sketches and the small story was made upon three words that we picked. The second one was like coming acting and the illustration. It was like you design your personality. The third one is the poster.

N: It really reminds me of my past WDKA life. It's nostalgic too. Now.. I have to shift the direction of our conversation. I'm curious how come you enrolled the HTML Zine Club.

A: I chose it because the course description sounded like making an interesting connection between art and coding. And actually, the high school that I graduated from Romania was more based on mathematics, physics, and a bit of programming. Although it wasn't done really well, I remember I learned the HTML & CSS a bit in the first year. When I found your course, I wanted to try to change my routine from the Illustration to something else.

N: 'Change routine' sounds very interesting. I mean you could also stay in your comfort zone, deepening one thing. You were already ready for an adventure, trying to zoom out from your main practice. I appreciate your courage. My next question is, how did you experience the hand-coding practice in the course? Because my course was mainly based on the HTML & CSS studying.

A: I really liked it. You code stuffs that might not make sense but you get it to make sense eventually... Another example is, for example, you write some random words in the code tags and then you see the result as visual graphic right after. I found that very satisfying in the end. And what I really liked about your course is you were giving us instruction, but also teaching us how to research things on our own.

N: Yes, due to the matter of limited time and energy, I couldn't help all of your code issues, but rather had to guide self-diagnosing and finding. Can you share any reflection that you had during this self-research on codes? Wasn't it challenging?

A: The challenging part became also the interesting and fun part at the same time. Of course I don't want to break things, but even if I did, I was able to dig into them and find some ways to work. And also,I like doing things by my hands and analogue and traditional. Having the control on every single thing and if I see it's not working, I could recognise like 'oh I see, this issue is on me, thus I should be the one who is able to fix it'. Through the trials and error you learn how things function and get to learn.

N: Thank you for such a beautiful thought. In the course you were also introduced the concept of the webzine, not only learned the basic coding. How were you able to approach to the webzine concept?

A: In the beginning, to be honest, I didn't really understand what I was supposed to create. But what I certainly got it is that it could be defined something broad. You could do whatever you want. So my interpretation was, I could even turn the webzine into my personal blog, such a web diary. And I added fun elements such as my personal photos.

N: Yes indeed, I think anything could be webzine if you attempt to put your voice into the web canvas. In the final presentation of the course I remember I asked you who would be your audiences/readers. Then you said your readers could be students who share similar experience like living abroad. By now do you have another reader groups in your mind?

A: I think the international students are still the good target readers, but to make it more specific, it could make a nice connection with people who are in a transition from teenagers to adult.

N: That sounds interesting. You came to the Netherlands after your graduation from the high school in Romania, so it must have been the transition for you.

Yes, I think my zine can speak better to people who are situated in a similar context.

Nice :) Hmm, I know my next question may sound a little all of sudden, like out of flow of the conversation. During the interview, I also wanted to ask students what kinds of digital mediums (software/tools) do they enjoy using for your artistic practice. How about your case? And hw did you learn it? Did you learn it in the academy?

A: I mostly use Adobe Photoshop, Illustration, and sometimes InDesign. Photoshop is my go-to because you can use it with almost everything you have. I use InDesign when I have to layout something.

N: How did you learn all these software?

A: We had some courses in the academy. The tutorials were in a basic level but it was still helpful. Also, we are in the community with a lot of artists, art students. We help each other, sharing knowledge in the programs.

N: I also think the peer-to-peer learning is one of the best... I see time is running out. I have only a few questions left for you. One of them is: What kind of artist or illustrator would you like to become? I know it's such a cliche, a boring question and probably there will be some changes in your mind in the future anyways. But I'm still curious.

A: It's not boring but I kinda don't know… I still want to discover that. For instance this year I also experienced editorial illustration, which was assignment-based and I think I operated well and I liked it. This creative field seems to change faster than other domains, requiring you to have different skills, but it also offer you possibilities to do what you like. I think I'm still exploring.

N: Nice that you're opened for the exploration. When I look back myself in the past, especially in the end of the academic years I had some pressure that I had to find a way to survive but became a little overwhelmed by the creative industry since it's rapidly changing, like you said. For instance, there are always some popular/dominant visual languages that are appreciated every year, we could call it trend. But I was sometimes a little conscious of that, thinking like 'should I also make things like that'?

A: I don't think I have the pressure. I just want to find my styles. I have some classmates who have very strong visual styles, but think my visual language doesn't have be the same with theirs. What I am sure is that the more I do, the better I'll find what I'm good at.

N: That's amazing attitude. I also think it doesn't help comparing yourself to others. Okay, we should really finish it soon because it's becoming almost 50 munites. I promised that it will be only 40 minutes max, but now it's exceeding. My apology. My last question is, can you please give me feedback about my course, HTML Zine Club? Maybe about the structue? or my tutoring attitude or skills..?

A: I found yours very relaxing and comfortable. I felt like you were very close to us. It had good energy to continue for the given two weeks.

N: I am very grateful! I was also expecting some critical point of views but yea... Thank you for joining to the interview, Alexandra.

A: It was also nice time for me. Thank you.