We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Maheen Sana ("MS").
Maheen Sana is a published designer and illustrator. Her illustrations have been featured in several books including the Zendar collection, Beautiful Name, and Stuck among others. The book Beautiful Name is displayed at the Library of Congress. Like most artists, Maheen initially worked in the traditional medium. In 2013, upon joining DeviantArt, she got introduced to digital art and never looked back. Experimentation with different styles over the years has allowed her to bring versatility to her art. Currently, Maheen is focused on learning 3D art and expanding her skill set as an artist even further.
Maheen Sana Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Maheen Sana.
Maheen Sana Design - Malware Digital Painting
Designer Interview of Maheen Sana:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
MS : Like most artists, I realized at a very early age that this was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I am completely self-taught. I didn’t think there was anything they could teach me at an art school that I couldn’t learn on my own using the internet.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
MS : I’m a freelance illustrator and designer.
DI: What is "design" for you?
MS : My bread and butter.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
MS : I like making illustrations and digital paintings the most.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
MS : Not sure if it was for a company, but my first paid freelance job was to draw an onion in Microsoft Paint and I killed it.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
MS : I love digital art. I’m currently happy with my Wacom Intuos pro tablet and stylus. The setup is easy and comfortable. Photoshop is hands down my favorite software to work in. I recently got into 3D art and so Blender and Zbrush are pretty fun to play around with.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
MS : Ideas come to me randomly.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
MS : Composition and color.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
MS : If I’m in the flow state and making something I genuinely care about, then I feel indifferent to everything and anything around me.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
MS : Mostly relief.
DI: What makes a design successful?
MS : If it gets more than 60 likes on Instagram. But on a serious note, generally, if a lot of people are talking about it and it just really makes you go “man, that’s good” then I guess that’s successful. On a more personal level, I feel like a design is successful if you see your idea through to the end and do not have any regrets.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
MS : If it looks good or bad.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
MS : I’d like to see more artists interested in tech. I’ve seen so many artists completely shun any new technological advancement especially if it somehow makes its way into the art community.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
MS : In digital art, I am noticing more and more people incorporating 3D into 2D artworks. I think it’s a really nice strategy to get more structure into your paintings and up your perspective and composition game. I don’t know if it’s the “future” of digital art. It’s certainly not revolutionary, just something that is very cool, I think.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
MS : I exhibited some of my paintings at ND2C 2018 in Islamabad. I don’t have any plans for an exhibition at the moment.
DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
MS : My art style is all over the place, but in a good way. I like drawing different things in different styles.
DI: How do you work with companies?
MS : Through the internet. I’ve always been a freelance artist.
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
MS : Look at their work and talk to them.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
MS : I start by collecting some reference images, start working on some concept sketches, and then once I’m happy with one, I start painting.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
MS : My iPhone, Macbook Pro, Doc Martens, these earrings I got from Istanbul, the floating stairs in our house.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
MS : Wake up, workout, breakfast, chores, shower, work, lunch, work, dinner, read, sleep.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
MS : Put in the work. Express what you want. Have self-respect.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
MS : The positives definitely outnumber the negatives. We as designers get to do what we love, most people can’t say that. We actually enjoy doing our work, well most of the time anyway. I guess the only downside I see is constantly having to deal with imposter syndrome, which can often lead you to undervalue your work and be underpaid.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
MS : Kill your darlings. I know it’s a rule for writers, but I think artists/ designers should incorporate this in their art process as well.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
MS : Knowing how to sell.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
MS : The hardware includes my Macbook Pro and Wacom Intuos Pro. I mostly work in Adobe Photoshop, but I dabble in Adobe Illustrator and Figma depending on what I'm working on. I’ve also been learning some 3D in Blender. I use a lot of different websites to get inspiration. Some of these are, Awwwards, ArtStation, Behance, Pinterest, DeviantArt, etc.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
MS : My life is different from most 22-year-olds, I think. I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of time to create art for personal projects as well as for work.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
MS : An illustration can take me anywhere from a day to a month to make. Yep, pretty standard.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
MS : Can you draw me?
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
MS : Illustrations and digital paintings. I just do.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
MS : Making good art.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
MS : I work alone.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
MS : Yes, I’m working on several projects right now, some of them I can’t talk about. I'm also working on some original paintings.
DI: How can people contact you?
MS : @maheensana on ArtStation and Behance @maheensana_ on Instagram and Twitter @Maheen-S on DeviantArt