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Eun-Ha Paek is PaperTigers' super-talented web-designer. Born in Korea, she studied at the Rhode Island School of Design before launching her career in illustration, animation and web design.

Eun-Ha is a member of the Milky Elephant collective. Her work includes the acclaimed online Strindberg and Helium animated series that was included in the 2010 Top 25 of the YouTube Play Guggenheim Biennial of Creative Video.

She also works in traditional media and has recently become interested in ceramics. Eun-Ha lives in New York.
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Q&A

You have lived in many different places around the world. In what ways has your art been influenced by these experiences?

Moving around a lot, I saw many different ways to do things. It's made me want to try to approach each new project with a fresh point of view. This isn't usually a great way for an illustrator to work because most art directors are looking for a specific style. But I am more interested in being faithful to the concept and being able to put myself into the work, rather than being defined by a particular technique.

You featured in our Gallery in its earliest days in 2002.  Looking back over the intervening years, what have been the biggest changes for you in your work?

Probably that there are no more elephants!

The biggest change for me is that I've started working on three-dimensional works. Learning to sculpt has helped my drawings since I'm now looking at things from all angles. It's kind of been the ultimate in exploring multiple viewpoints.

Can you tell us about the elephants that feature so strongly in your work?

The elephants started as a way to focus and unify my work as I experimented with different approaches and mediums.

I also feel a particular connection to them from growing up in Thailand. I would see them walking down the street now and then. It was a rare enough occurrence to imbue the sightings with a dreamlike feel. Powdered with pale dust from the dirt roads, they seemed like magical creatures and fed my imagination.

In my family we are big fans of your Strindberg and Helium cartoons.  Can you give us some background?  Are there any more in the offing?

Thanks! The first one was made back in 2000! I worked with James Bewley and Erin Bradley, who were part of a comedy troupe at the time. There is one more in the works.

The scripts provide the bare bones, pretty much just the dialogue, so it takes me a while to work out the setting and the action. Out of procrastination thoroughness, I have built models of Strindberg's entire apartment even though you only see his living room and workspace. I hope one day to make a scene with Strindberg and Helium in the bathroom and bedroom.

How does your ideal creative day pan out?

It's a day I don't get distracted and vary from my schedule. There are so many distractions available, it's easy to go down rabbit holes in the name of research.

What projects are you working on at the moment?

I'm working on a travel book with some friends. A combination of my favorite things: friends, traveling, telling stories and drawing. There is also that Strindberg and Helium episode to finish. I'm also working on a series of ceramic sculptures.

Posted October 2012

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