In our latest video we catch up with Illustration Graduate (and friend of YES) Deniz Gunsav to find out what she's been up-to since finishing university and to talk about what it's like to win the D&AD New Blood award!

Read on to learn more about her creative work...

To see the chat between Martin and Deniz check out the video above. We think you will find this extremely useful especially if you are just about to take the plunge into professional design work and want some tips for scoring clients.

Freelance Life

Deniz has been working full time in the creative industry for the past year and has already achieved some amazing things! She works on a wide range of projects for a client list she has built up on her own and also had a solo exhibition in Shoreditch, London in February this year. Pretty awesome right?

Check out her website here and get an idea of her style. To get some insight into her working files watch the full video tutorial. 

We actually first met Deniz at a Behance Portfolio event YES held in Bournemouth two years ago. Our whole team were pretty wowed by her portfolio of work and it was great to invite her back for a catch up and cuppa tea!

Feedback is so important for creative work and minds...

Since graduating from uni Deniz mentions the benefits of going into design studios to work with creative teams where she can get direct feedback and advice from other creative professionals. Something she didn't have as much access to as a student. 

Feedback is an incredibly important part of being a creative professional and essential to creating great work. Sometimes being freelance can make it harder to come by a constant source of feedback but that's where going into work with studios on a day rate or on a retain (repeat) basis can be really useful and inspiring! 

Using Social Media​

Deniz has been professionally active on social media for the past year and mentioned that she enjoys using sites like Instagram to ask followers questions about the work she is producing!

This kind of engagement on social media is so valuable as it builds a relationship with your customers and provides you with valuable opinions on your work. It's a win win! 

D&AD - New Blood

The DA&AD New Blood award is considered one of the best awards to win as a student and even in the wider industry. 

The brief Deniz took on was to create artwork which would help raise the profile of the chain Hotel Indigo. Entrants could choose any of their hotel sites and use the location and social culture to help shape the style of the work. 

Check out some of her outcomes below and follow this link to learn more about the project.

Winning this award was not only an amazing accomplishment but also won her new commissions and boosted her social media following.

We think it's a good idea to enter your work into competitions they can boost your exposure and confidence in your work! 

Creative Work

Deniz works in Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects. 

Most of her work is done in Adobe Illustrator where she creates vector illustrations. She then takes her work into Adobe Photoshop to add more detail and texture. She mentions actually learning Adobe Illustrator before Photoshop which is pretty unusual. People usually start with good old Photoshop.

However this background in Illustrator came in very handy when she started using After Effects to create animations! 

Find out more about her workflow, working files and creative techniques in the full video tutorial! 

Thanks for reading and we hope you found this useful and inspiring. If you want to learn from other talented creatives check out this post. Or see more work created by Deniz here.