Meet the Maker - Julianna Szabo

The following is a short interview written for Bloom's Blog.

We recently collaborated with Dublin based, paper animation artist, Julianna Szabo in creating our Bloom Christmas card Video. This is the second in a series of feature ‘B’ videos at the agency.

Julianna studied Visual Communications at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Graduating in 2014, she has since exhibited in an array of international galleries including Hungary, Finland and Helsinki and collaborated with brands such as Fossil watches.

We talked with the artist about the process of her intricately delicate creations.

How did you get into paper illustration?

My enthusiasm for papercraft started in college and I’ve been creating paper sculptures and animation since I graduated from NCAD in 2014.

Could you explain your process?

When I start a new project I usually come up with a number of ideas and make rough sketches about them, mostly to remember the idea itself. Then I select the one I like the most and start researching it until I have an image formed in my head that I’m satisfied with. Sometimes I merge some of the initial smaller ideas into one to get to something I like. I usually prefer those ideas that have some twist in them, the ones that catch your attention from afar, draws you in, then offers more details when you get close. At the end I just keep cutting and layering until the image matches what I have in mind.

What would your advice be to someone interested in paper animation?

Be patient and pay attention to details. Everything depends on those tiny details at the end.

What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?

Seeing the end result taking shape as I imagined in my mind. It’s also rewarding to see people replaying the animations multiple times to discover all the details.