Minju An's oddly sinister illustrations depict strange characters and floating bread

Brooklyn-based illustrator Minju An was put on a path towards illustration after being inspired by the animations and comic books she read as a kid. “Illustrations do not have any limitations. I can draw and express whatever I want and it doesn’t need to be serious or complex,” she explains. “I feel like I’m really playing with illustration.”

Minju’s style is graphic in her colour choices and clean linework and through her interests in psychology and philosophy she “makes quirky connections between the two”. As result her characters are drawn slightly off kilter and her sense of humour is offbeat and gives glimpses of her “childlike wonder”.

Recurring visuals in the illustrator’s work are alien characters, floating loaves of bread and decapitation along with other violent acts, and these elements all come together to create bizarre observations in neat little boxes. “I’m always thinking of ideas for illustrations and take a sketchbook and pen with me wherever I go,” says Minju. “I try to think of new things I’ve not seen before and just sketch them. From the drawings I then work digitally using Photoshop or Illustrator.”

Currently studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Minju simply wants to convey “how art can be fun,” she says. “I would like to see people enjoying my work and getting inspired by it.”