Monica Ahanonu
Monica Ahanonu is a freelance illustrator working and living in Los Angeles. She is an expert in color theory, vector illustration, and motion design. Over the course of her career, she has worked on a range of exciting projects for clients including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Netflix, Adidas, MTV and more. She is a leader in the digital space for Black artists and her portraits and pop art make learning about people from other cultures, industries, and backgrounds accessible.
We spoke with Monica to learn more about her path to a career in design, approach to creative collaboration, and her valuable advice for designers who are just starting out.
Hi Monica! Tell us about yourself - how did you get to where you are today and when did you first become interested in art and design?
Looking back there are a lot of decisions, interests, and personality traits that allowed me to get where I am today. I would say the following definitely had an impact:
First - Focusing on what I was interested in at each stage of my life and immersing myself in that interest, getting really good at whatever interest I had at the time. When I was young, growing up in Arizona, I became obsessed with the Disney Channel and I was determined to create my own show with my parents' video recorder and make it look as good as the ones I had seen on TV. Obviously it was not possible for me to get to that level of quality with just a simple video recorder, but having that interest at the time got me obsessed with learning about film and editing, and forced me to do a lot of trial and error while filming my friends or just myself to get as close as I could to what I was seeing on TV.
Second - Finding the right mentors and being encouraged by my mentors to do things the way I liked - my art, workflow, how I wanted to dress each day - versus the way I thought they had to be done based on those around me or what was popular.
Third - I would also say that I never really believed that just because someone else wasn’t able to do something that I wanted to do, didn’t mean I couldn’t do it myself. This mindset, that I think I had subconsciously, really helped me not be discouraged or redirected away from a goal throughout my journey of getting where I am today.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I think my love for art and design started when I was in elementary school. My first memories of being obsessed with creating started a bit like this: It’s so terrible to say, but I used to rub pollen in my eyes (very allergic) so I could stay home from school and make my own little TV shows with my parents’ camcorder and draw my own magazines using spiral notebooks from school. I told my mom this a few years ago but it is true - I fully remember pretending I was feeling sicker than I was so that I could stay home and create something and not be sitting in school. In terms of realizing it while I was doing it, that came probably when I was in college. I was interning at DreamWorks Animation and was so inspired, motivated, and encouraged by the various people that I met, I would actually (I am now realizing this is a trend) skip class so that I could spend an extra days at the studio, attend recording sessions, or learn from someone who was presenting that day. I came to notice that being surrounded by other creatives, creating my art, and playing with color late at night gave me energy, and the hours would fly by because I was so focused and fully enjoying what I was doing in the moment.
How would you describe your aesthetic and how has your design style changed over time?
Bold, energetic, and colorful. My style used to be way more minimalistic and I have incorporated more details within the minimal shapes over time. I would say the details within the minimal shapes I create have evolved over the years - they’ve become much more wild and vibrant. I have a hard time creating art that is muted or with pastel colors.
Are there particular themes you like to explore through your work?
I definitely enjoy bringing elements of fashion - unusual clothing combinations and weird accessories - into my work. I love putting wild silhouettes together to create an outfit for a character. Most of the time it will be an outfit I want to wear myself that I don’t have, so I get excitement and satisfaction out of putting someone else in that outfit.
You’ve worked with clients including Google, The New York Times, Adidas, Disney and more. What’s your creative process like and how do you approach creative collaboration?
My process typically starts with a discussion about the client's vision, what piece(s) from my previous work they are drawn towards (so I can get a sense of the time their project will take) and if they have any specific limitations with the design. Limitations can be number of people, type of colors, avoiding a single color, amount of white space needed, emotions we want to avoid or make sure to include, and many more. After that, I will have a round or two of sketches - for me sketches are typically me blocking out the shapes for the composition in photoshop and potentially deciding what type of color story I will be using for the piece so the client can understand the mood we will be achieving with the final piece. After they sign off on that, I will go into the finer details and refine the figures to fully get across our message, visual and meet the overall goal.
What’s been one of your favorite projects to work on so far and why?
I really loved working on the Google Doodle for Audre Lorde. I had wanted to do a Google Doodle when I was younger, it was something I always wondered about and I would look at the new Doodles everyday. I was always curious about how people were chosen to create one so I was very honored when they emailed me about it. It was a fun project to work on as I learned about new ways to use Adobe Photoshop I hadn’t before in order to get the movement to work properly for the viewers. I love the way it came out.
Audre Lorde by Monica Ahanonu for Google
Where do you find creative inspiration?
Fashion, vintage shopping, and interior design. I recently moved into a new apartment and looking at vintage furniture, as well as learning about various time periods of interior design has been a huge source of inspiration throughout the last few months. Even something as simple as a chair can inspire me. Seeing all the variations of an office chair, or a chair for my balcony will send me down a rabbit hole. So I guess you could say just different elements of design - design within different industries separate from my own, inspires me.
Do you have any favorite design resources?
Vogue Runway App or online shopping apps like The Real Real, Moda Operandi, MyTheresa, Ssense - all have inspiring and unique clothing, always presenting the newest collections for each season which ends up becoming a big source of inspiration for me. I find new silhouettes, pattern combinations, color combos, and make up looks to be inspired by.
What advice would you give to artists and designers just starting out?
I have given this same advice previously and want to share it here as well:
1. Send a lot of emails and do informational interviews. Reach out to people you admire, would like to work with, or are interested in learning from. Find mentors for the different areas of your life.
2. Meet everyone and don’t ever refuse a meeting. Pick their brains. You can learn so much from the people you meet even if they aren’t in your industry. Successful people always have something to offer you in some area of your life.
3. Use a planner or calendar and make lists. This allows you to see the gaps in your schedule where you can fit time to work on your side hustle and passions outside of school or a full-time job.
4. Know your industry. Research the industry you want to get into: the steps it takes to get a job in that industry, the specific job(s) you want in that industry. Research what the day-to-day is like for someone doing the job you want and see if that’s a day-to-day lifestyle you would enjoy.
5. Keep yourself motivated by putting up quotes and affirmations around your living space or reminders in your phone that keeps you in a positive mindset throughout your day.
6. Diversify your friends not just by race, but by age. You learn so much from people that have either gone through what you are going through or younger people who may be more knowledgeable about specific new technologies or trends taking off.
7. Be mindful of what you consume visually every day. Follow people and things on social media that inspire you and motivate you. If you feel something isn’t serving you mentally or lifting you up mentally, just hit that unfollow button.
8. Do what makes you excited, do what you are excited about and interested in that very moment and if that interest changes, that’s okay. If you are really passionate about something, you will focus on it and become very good at it faster than something you are forcing yourself to do.
Thank you for sharing with us Monica! To see more of Monica’s work, visit her website, follow her on Instagram, and purchase Icons from Chronicle Books.
All images courtesy of Monica Ahanonu.