‘DUCK’ IS THE SYMBOL FOR A JACK OF ALL TRADES WHO EXCEL IN NOTHING. HEYJN IS AN ILLUSTRATOR WHO THINKS BEING A DUCK HAS ITS PERKS AND DRAWING THEM IS ALSO A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE

TEXT & IMAGE COURTESY OF HEYJN

(For Thai, press here)

WHO

I’m Janet – Sunsinee Chuanthitiporn (Heyjn), one of the two creators of KAPTOR. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in photography from Chiang Mai University. With a personal interest in illustration and fulfilling my father’s wish for me to pursue a postgraduate degree, I decided to complete a master’s degree in graphic design at Chulalongkorn University.

WHAT

My areas of interest include illustration and character design. I create my own designs and develop them into my own products, which later blossomed into the KAPTOR STORE. I started the store back when I was just a college student. I used to work as a graphic designer, but I always had this drive to pursue illustration. So I decided to quit my full-time job and focus on my own work.

WHEN

I first started working when I was a sophomore in college, studying photography. I had no prior knowledge or experience in illustration. I’d simply sketch whatever I wanted, but I’ve always liked to draw since I was a kid. Then I began drawing the duck figure, and I discovered that I had a lot of fun drawing ducks. That, mixed with what my father used to tell me, “don’t be a duck and do things halfway; choose what you want to do and go all in.” Because I didn’t know what I was good at, I opted to be like a duck. It’s enjoyable to be like a duck because it affords me the opportunity to experience so much variety.

WHERE

I was born and raised in Bangkok until I graduated from high school. I moved to Chiang Mai for college and then decided I wanted to live here, which led to me opening my own shop in Baankangwat, which is like an artist village in Chiang Mai. So I spend the majority of my time in Chiang Mai, but I also travel to Bangkok and other cities when there are events to open a pop-up store.

WHY

I’ve always liked telling stories through visuals. And most of the illustrations I have created are thoughts and ideas that are in my head or stories from the past. Personality-wise, myself and my friend, who is the partner that runs the store with me, are both mischievous people, and we joke around a lot, so it’s only natural for our works to have a sense of humor to them. But there are unique elements to them. We could be making jokes that people know and incorporating them into our design. There are always certain funny characters or details hidden in my work.

How would you describe your work?

Like I said, most of the illustrations I’ve done come from my personal experiences, and there’s always humor hidden in them somewhere. The style changes depending on what I’m interested in at the time and the techniques I need to use for each work. The early stuff that I produced had a lot of colors in it. Colors were vigorously used without any control. It was probably because it was the period when I was really into collage, painting, and photography. I’ve been doing a lot more screen printing, so the colors I use are more controlled and minimal.

What is your inspiration and guiding principle for each creation?

Things around me, mostly. What I go through on a daily basis, anecdotes from my family and life, or even the Internet. You just cannot deny the Internet’s power and influence. My belief is to not put too much strain on myself. If tiredness sets in, take a break. Go out and eat something delicious, then come back and focus.

What project are you most proud of?

All of them (laugh). But if I have to choose, it would have to be Joy the Duck Side (2018), KAPTOR’s first solo exhibition and the first full-on illustration showcase I had. It took place not long after I completed my master’s degree. My friend and I personally oversaw every aspect of the entire exhibition, including production and installation. People would stop by the exhibition after it opened and write their thoughts on the guest book, and the comments made me feel like perhaps the work I put out there was not bad and people actually liked it.

Which stage of the design process do you like the most?

Each step is fun in its own way, and it has a different kind of pressure as well. The early stage is enjoyable in the way that I get to try to come up with new ideas and have fun with my imagination. But at the same time, there’s always a creative block. It was like I just ran out of ideas. The following steps usually don’t require that much thinking because everything is already thought out. The actual creation process is usually something I enjoy doing. But there’s always that pressure when things don’t turn out the way I envisioned. But in general, there isn’t a specific step that I particularly like or do not like. I think with the nature of the work, I have to adjust my mindset to have fun with every step of the process in different ways.

If you could invite a ‘creative’ to coffee, who would you invite and why?

If I could, I would invite my father. He passed away in 2018. I had just finished my master’s degree, and we had never really had a chance to sit down and have a cup of coffee together. I didn’t even drink coffee back then, and I hadn’t done anything substantial at the time. Most of the works I’ve created have stories of my father hidden in them.

People say that we tend to appreciate things more when they’re gone, and I agree. When he was still alive, I never wanted to really hear his stories. If I had the chance to talk to him again, the conversation would have given me so many interesting perspectives.

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