5 QUES TIONS WITH
CREATIVES TIM UY
BY FIAMA MASTRANGELO
Pensacon may have been postponed this year due to the pandemic, but a local illustrator and character designer may have just the zest for fantasy that you need to get through the rest of this month. Tim Uy is a Pensacola native who uses his unique style of illustration to bring 2D characters to life. Uy’s expansive portfolio includes many pop culture favorites, such as Nintendo’s Mario and Luigi, Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Uy teaches graphic design courses at Pensacola Christian College, where he also received his master’s degree in studio art in 2017. In addition to mentoring the next generation of illustrators and graphic designers, Uy works as an illustrator for children’s literature, bringing a sense of adventure with him into every new project. You can find his work on Instagram @tim_ooee or on his website timooee. com. For aspiring illustrators, Uy’s YouTube channel, Timooee, has a variety of useful videos for improving your craft and gaining inspiration. How would you describe your illustration style? A lot of people have told me that I have a fun illustration style. There’s a sense of adventure and a lot of exaggerated shapes. I’m very cartoony in that way. Since cartoons and comics have been such a big influence in my life, I kind of subconsciously copied that way of illustration. I also like bright colors; there’s not a lot of muted colors in my own work. How has the pandemic influenced your artistic process and inspiration? Luckily, I didn’t have too much of a hard time with illustration, especially with my job. For inspiration, it definitely helped me out. For about a month, I had to be in quaran-
tine, and it led me to be very introspective. Being at my house and working from home, it forced me to try something new with my illustrations. I would try a different pose that I don’t normally do, or I would try drawing from a different angle than my illustrations are at right now. Maybe I’m just more introverted than I thought. How have you used your art to connect with others in the age of social distancing? You know, I never really thought about that when drawing. I guess being isolated can be hard for someone—if they looked at my artwork, and it’s something fun, it can cheer them up. I just like to draw fun
things. On social media, when you post something, you have something to say as well. With everybody social distancing and being at home, maybe something I drew can inspire them. Reginald and Ingrid are my favorite original characters of yours. Do you have any plans to bring your original character designs to life? I don’t usually like telling people what I plan on doing; most of the time, I never follow up—that’s just who I am. I told my wife this— I’m not usually one for resolutions—but this year, I want to make a comic. It’s going to be really short and really simple, nothing serious. You won’t find Christopher Nolan doing a movie on my story. I really want to use those characters. Ingrid is the one that stuck around for a long time. I created her in grad school, and I really want to include her in that. What would you say to someone that is aspiring to be an illustrative artist? I guess I would tell them what I tell my students: I think the most impor-
tant thing is to realize that your art does not equal your self-worth. What I mean by that is that art can be very personal to the artist. When I was a student, I would present my work to a teacher and they would critique it. Sometimes it was good; most of the time it was bad. When it’s a bad critique, it’s a learning experience, not an attack on your person or your art. It’s easy to graduate with all this knowledge of how to draw, but then you can see this overwhelming ocean of great artists and think “My art’s bad and I’m bad.” Many times, people think they’re not good enough because they think their art isn’t good enough. It’s just something you have to learn to deal with. There will always be someone better than you. That’s not a bad thing. It would be a lot of responsibility to be the best. DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM | 7
