Meet Rasato Ma | Illustrator & Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rasato Ma and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rasato, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I might risk seeing it as an opportunity to re-examine myself. For me, choosing to study abroad, experiencing and exploring new environments, communicating with others in a foreign country as a non-native speaker, and even choosing to go to London to continue following my dreams after graduation are all adventures and challenges. Taking risks sometimes seems painful to me but it is actually like creativity, which cannot be born in ordinary and calm situations, but requires impulsiveness, madness and emotions.

I intend to talk about adventure in my creative career. Throughout my graduate program, nearly two-thirds of the projects were completed using traditional drawing materials such as coloured pencils, charcoal and oil pastels, and these sketches represented my unique character to some extent and highlighted cruelty, calm, experimental and galloping. Thus, my course leader and many classmates around me suggested that I continue to use sketching to further develop my career. However, I didn’t listen to their opinions and chose electronic painting to delve into the field of editorial illustration, a calm and narrative way of painting. In fact, they looked terrible at the beginning and even it took weeks to complete an imaginary illustration. Also, I got anxious easily when I started getting into electronic drawing. When I was uninspired or in a mess, I started to doubt my choices and abilities and often compared my work to the work of great illustrators. After a long period of continuous practice and adjustment of mentality, I began to slowly stabilise my digital drawing style even though I still made mistakes now and then.

Meanwhile, I know that if I continue to create in the form of sketches, it may be recognised by the public in a more relaxed form, but this may not be what I need. I’m not a person who is always likely to stay in my comfort zone and my inner desires told me I needed to do something challenging. So, I chose editorial illustration. From my perspective, it is a comfortable and ever-evolving platform to further connect with my audience through narrative, colour, texture, etc.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It is not easy for every graduate in the creative field who has just entered society from university, because in addition to the field that we need to devote to our own development, we also need to measure a realistic problem – how to survive in society? Obviously, I no longer have plenty of time to try and make mistakes or do some projects that I liked when I was a graduate student, but I need to worry more about my rent and monthly expenses even though I am an artist. I started to try and implement some things that my course leader may not have taught me in the university, such as networking, socialising, and how to better market myself on the Internet. These are completely different from creating and they are relatively more time-consuming and require persistence on my part.

Then, I am happy to talk about the connection between my character and work. You will find that they are actually subtle and interact with each other if you look carefully. I have said that I am a sensitive person and sometimes I may unintentionally hurt others due to my personality, but this is not my intention. So in this case, editorial illustration has become a good form that allows me to narrate and even transfer all my own sensitivity, empathy and desire into the painting. I hope that when my audience browses my work, they can imagine what kind of person I am. Like fuzzy, sensual or dumb?

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would happily take my friends to Paris even though I currently live in London. Because Paris is my favourite city so far, fuzzy, warm and full of expectations, especially in the summer. As for food, I think the food in Paris is all very delicious and yummy, but I especially recommend the ice cream sold in the food trucks near the Tuileries Garden. They are very creamy, soft and smooth. And regarding attractions, if I only have a week, I will definitely take them on a boat ride near the Eiffel Tower at night and play “About You” from 1975. I’d love to be a Muggle (From Harry Potter) in Paris with my friends.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Exactly! One of my graduation projects, Sketchbook, was made of traditional drawing stuff and it won the bronze award in the student category of the 20th 3×3 International Illustration Competition. Actually, I was hesitant to design this book at first because I was mainly likely to devote all my energy and time to editorial illustration and wanted to become familiar with it quickly. But when I thought about all the experiences and memories that happened last year, I couldn’t help but do it. Until now, I am very grateful and grateful that I dedicated one year of my long but short life to the lovely Bournemouth. Meanwhile, I am also grateful that this little sketchbook has won me some meaningful and challenging awards, which I never imagined.

I am sensitive, prone to anxiety and need someone to guide me when I am confused, and Hsiang plays such a role as my friend. I know very well that this is not her responsibility at all, but she can always use her unique insights and past experiences to help me solve every problem or specifically contribute practical suggestions I throw at her. In China, we say that meeting someone is a kind of fortune, but I think it is a kind of fate that I can be friends with her, and it is also my blessing. I sincerely say thank you to her.

Website: https://rasato.me/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasato3240/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasato-ma-931b67224/

Other: Behance: https://www.behance.net/rasato