Q: Originally from Korea, what are some of your favorite things about living and working in New York City?

A: My favorite things have to be to be among the many artists in New York. I have connected with so many young, multicultural, passionate, purist artists over the years and have learned so much from them.

Q: Do you keep a sketchbook? What is the balance between the art you create on paper versus in the computer?

A: I stopped sketching in my early 20’s. If I have to, I sketch enough to deliver the concept very minimally, as if I leaving a note to remember things.

Q: What do you like best about your workspace?

A: My orthopedic chair.

Q: Do you think it needs improvement, if so, what would you change?

A: Less isolation, a more boutique-like workspace would be good. Illustrators tend to work alone. Working with others in a well managed (not self managing) system, in a workspace, would be nice.  

Q: What is the most important item in your studio?

A: Music, iMac, and large desks.

Q: What is your favorite part of the creative process? 

A: The beginning. I open all my senses as deep sea creatures do. Once a project starts, I go out and consume many visuals, listen to various sounds, and touch as many things as possible. 

Q: What was the strangest or most unusual assignment you’ve taken? What did you learn from the experience?

A: I was involved with a very long documentary film project and was assigned to draw five dream sequences. It was most the poetic, whimsical, and enchanted project I’ve ever had in my life. I ended up creating hundreds of illustrations, all handmade paper costume, and new typography for opening sequences. The film won two major documentary festival awards last year. 

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Q: What is the best book you’ve recently read?

A: Perfume by Patrick Suskind. Also, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

Q: If you had to choose one medium to work in for an entire year, eliminating all others, what medium would you choose?

A: iDraw by Mac. I’ve never tried the program before, but it might be interesting and might be feasible for an entire year.

Q: What are some of your favorite places/books/blogs/websites for inspiration?

A: The magazine Visionaire, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Q: What was the painting or drawing or film--or artist, that most affected your approach to art? [the Tunderbolt]

A: Donald Judd and Duchamp.

Q: If you could be anywhere but where you are now, where would that be?

A: Anywhere is fine. Place is just place, and I’ll be doing the same things.

Q: What advice would you give a young artist about applying to an art school or college?

A: Where you studied is not important. Whom you were with at that moment is most important.

Q: What would be your last supper?

A: Rice.

Lynn Sung Hae Baik was born in 1982 in Seoul, Korea. After studying film at the Hongik University from 2000 to 2002, she decided to move to the United States after a brief stay in New York City. Baik received a BFA with honors in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 2007 and a MFA with honors Concentration in Printmaking from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York in 2013. Her work has been recognized by American Illustration, Creative Quarterly, 303, CMYK, Fields Magazine, and has exhibited in Italy, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, New York, and Egypt. Baik currently resides in downtown Manhattan and was awarded a four-week 2014 Ruth Katzman Scholarship recipient for the Artist-in-Residency (A-I-R) Program at The Vyt in Sparkill, New York.