Jhonny Núñez
Colombian by birth, Jhonny Núñez is an award-winning creative illustrator currently based in Russia. His professional career has allowed him to travel around the world, from South America to Europe and Asia. His passion for the discipline of illustration led him to become a full-time illustrator with his own characteristic style, as well as a theoretical practical researcher committed to disseminating and promoting creativity. He is the founder of Jhonny-Studio, a multidisciplinary creative studio focused on the union of digital and analog techniques. The Jhonny Studio team illustrates, paints, designs, and creates products with a unique style for people who want to make a positive difference. Among his awards are 5 Behance Appreciation Awards, 1 CLAP award and the YDB award.
We spoke with Jhonny to learn more about his career path, creative process, and his advice for designers just starting out.
Tell us about yourself, how did you get to where you are today? What first sparked your interest in design and how do you like to work?
I have always wanted to be an illustrator and as a child I spent most of my time drawing on walls, notebooks, and whatever surface I could. Then I entered high school and then college. I studied at two universities in Latin America and then traveled to Europe to finish my studies at two other universities. The first thing that caught my attention because of their design were comics - I think reality has always disappointed me, so when I discovered comics I felt teleported to another universe full of colors, letters and shapes in perfect harmony. Comics invited me to discover the world of design.
I have always preferred to be a freelance illustrator. It bores me to work in an environment surrounded by many people in a small space, so I dedicated myself to learning and understanding the business of being a freelance illustrator. Thanks to my way of working, I was able to get through the pandemic without suffering financial loss.
Designer Jhonny Núñez
Where do you find creative inspiration?
I have traveled a lot in my life, I can’t stay in one country for too long. The more I travel, the more I miss Colombia, my country of origin. Although the world is fantastic, humans tend to get attached to our places of origin in a very nostalgic way. That is where my inspiration comes from - wanting to recreate the things that I miss in my country, such as the abundant and colorful vegetation, the exotic animals, and the always smiling people. All of this is incorporated in one way or another in my illustrations. On those occasions when I need an extra dose of inspiration, I always look for alternatives. The cinema is my secondary source of inspiration, sometimes I am inspired by comics or books, but definitely the internet and its hyper-saturated social networks are usually a very difficult temptation to avoid. Having said all of this, I must emphasize that when a client provides a perfect, well-detailed, and elaborate brief, then I have a part of the work done and the inspiration comes from the brief itself.
What’s been one of your favorite projects to work on so far?
Last year (2020) I had the opportunity to work with Adobe on an incredible project, it was a campaign to launch the new Illustrator on the iPad app and I loved participating. Right now, I am working with Disney Animation Studios on a movie about me. I am also very enthusiastic about this project - this week I also made some illustrations for a special Catoon Network program and I think the result is phenomenal. These 3 projects are my favorites so far.
What are some of your favorite design resources?
Primarily Behance and Dribbble.
What advice would you give to designers who are just starting out?
Don’t forget that creativity is an industry like any other, it is about obtaining the greatest possible benefit in exchange for providing a service, so you must forget about having thousands of followers on social networks and learn to do business first, that is the only way to grow in the right direction.
Thank you for sharing with us Jhonny! To view more of Jhonny’s work, visit his website and check out his shots on Dribbble.
All images courtesy of Jhonny Núñez.