Presenting the kick ass class of Young Guns 22
It’s a kick-ass class. Young Guns 22 is topping the charts in creativity. But are you even surprised? Of course, not. If you’re new here, let me catch you up. Young Guns is a community of incredibly talented individuals – think amazing cinematographers, animators, illustrators, photographers, designers, and directors – and a new class of winners is chosen by an expert jury every year. This year we have 33 winners and among them, we have some very new, very exciting titles to unveil – an Architectural Designer, Composer, Stage & Show Designer, and Colorist.
We interviewed the winners so we could share their prowess with you. And if you’re a NYC local you can snag a ticket to the official YG22 Party at Sony Hall on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, where you will have the chance to meet and greet them.
Young Guns continue to dominate the creative industry, so we’re happily presenting you with the kick-ass class of Young Guns 22.
Sam Whitney
Art Director, The New York Times
Based:
Brooklyn, NY
Hometown:
Clinton, MA
What were your original impressions of the Young Guns competition, award, and community?
I originally learned about Young Guns just from seeing it listed on the sites of the creatives I was looking to work with. It became apparent pretty quickly it was a common theme among the people I really looked up to, so I started to follow it more closely. It seemed like a really impressive group to be a part of!
How did you end up in the creative field anyways?
I grew up in a relatively rural town, where being a “creative” was not an obvious career path. I had this vague notion that I wanted to be an artist, but I never really knew what that meant and didn’t pursue any real formal training. Towards the end of high school, I was intending on going to college to major in marketing — my small town conception of a creative-yet-pragmatic career choice — but a teacher of mine who I was close with convinced me to apply to graphic design programs instead, which I will eternally be grateful for. I went into design school with a pirated version of Photoshop CS5 (years out of date by that point) and no idea what Helvetica was, so the learning curve was steep, but within a couple of weeks I was hooked.
Congrats on the YG win! Why did you decide to enter this year?
I wasn’t originally planning on entering this year, since I had entered last year and didn’t even make the shortlist, but Pablo Delcan was nice enough to nominate me and having that support from someone I respect so much really emboldened me to give it another try and see what would happen.
When I entered last time, I hadn’t been in my role for that long, and I had really tried to capture the breadth of my work with my entry, which led to me including some work that didn’t necessarily feel unique to my sensibilities. This time, I took a curatorial eye to my portfolio and really tried to focus on fewer, stronger pieces that felt like they said something about my personality. And having that extra year to settle into my role and hone my style gave me a lot more to choose from, which certainly didn’t hurt!
“I took a curatorial eye to my portfolio and really tried to focus on fewer, stronger pieces that felt like they said something about my personality.”
You only get to submit six projects that embody you and your talent. So, how did you decide which pieces were good enough to make the cut?
Working in the editorial world, projects come and go very quickly and often require a light touch, so rather than having a few in depth projects to choose from, I had hundreds of individual pieces to string together into something coherent. I ultimately found it simplest to lump projects together by skill set — feature story, layout design, digital illustration, and art direction. Then I tried to look past aspects like style or technique and see the throughlines in the ideas behind my execution, and hone in on what felt unique to me rather than what I thought would impress someone else. Often these were attempts at some amount of humor — a quirky type treatment here, an irreverent composite of stock photos there — but eventually some semblance of voice started to appear.
What was your reaction when you discovered that you won?
I was at work, hoping the email that had just come in was an artist getting back to me about a quick turnaround project, but finding out the news was a much better surprise! It was hard to contain my excitement to an appropriate level for the workplace, and I immediately texted my boyfriend to let him know he had to buy me dinner to celebrate.
How does your current home inspire your creativity as an artist?
I spent the first year of my current job working remotely, and while I did feel inspired as part of the team, nothing compares to being in the same office as my coworkers. I get really inspired by having them around, and being able to turn to them and ask them to look at a sketch or riff on an idea. My desk neighbor Damien Saatdjian and I used to be a real nuisance to the rest of our office, often cackling together in our little corner, spending too much time pitching each other increasingly absurd ideas just to get the other to laugh. It was fun, but it also really pushed me conceptually, and helped me approach a more refined creative ethos. Damien eventually left the job but sometimes he will text me about an illustration I worked on, saying “this made me lol.” It comes off as a joke, but I often reply in earnest, “that was the goal!”
Now that you’re a part of the Young Guns community, are there any past winners you look up to and admire?
There are too many to name, but I’ll try! Braulio Amado (YG13) and Kurt Woerpel (YG20) are two of my favorite designers of all time. They’re both really great examples of how having a wide range of capabilities can open up really cool opportunities, but they still maintain their own unique voices. And (I hope they wouldn’t take offense to this) they both really prove that sometimes being a little silly is the smartest thing you can do. I idolized Claudia Rubin (YG19) in college (and still do), and I’ve had the immense pleasure of collaborating with so many winners that I look up to, like Ben Denzer (YG16), Jiaqi Wang (YG21), Tyler Comrie (YG16), and many more!
If you could create a new Young Guns tradition, what would you want it to be and why?
Personally, I’d love to see some kind of show-and-tell component introduced. It’s so cool to see all of the different work featured by the competition. It would be great to hear creatives talk a little more about the process and thinking behind a project of theirs, and see what kind of commonalities are beneath all of the varied work that wins.
Name a dream project that you have yet to fulfill — maybe Young Guns will propel you in that direction!
I harbor a secret desire to see how my skills could apply outside of the traditional design world. I have been described (perhaps mockingly) as a film buff, and I’d love to see what I could contribute to a film shoot, whether in set design, art direction, or general concepting. I also think some of my illustrations could make fun sculptures, so if you know anything about fabrication, let me know!
Will we see you at the YG22 party in NYC in November?
Will there be dancing? If so, yes. And if not, I guess I could still stop by...
Come party with us and celebrate the class of Young Guns 22 on Wednesday, November 13, 6:30 PM, at Sony Hall in NYC!
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