Saikhantsetseg Tserendorj is a fashion designer and fashion illustrator from Mongolia. She is currently living in New York. She came to the USA after high school to become a Fashion designer and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with an Associate in Fashion Design and a Bachelors in Technical Design. Saikhantsetseg has loved drawing ever since she was a child. During highschool, she realized she loved drawing people and fashion more than still objects and landscapes. She loves designing one of a kind dresses with interesting cutouts and details. She’s been focusing on working as a fashion illustrator at the moment.
Saikhantsetseg describes her style as free, expressive and one of a kind. Her favorite mediums are pen, markers and watercolor.
KREEP. TALKS: SAIKHANTSETSEG TSERENDORJ
When did you first realize you want to become a fashion illustrator?
I realized I wanted to pursue a career in the fashion industry when I was in highschool. Designing and creat fashion illustrations felt very fun, creative and exciting for me.
How did your passion for fashion start and how did your creative process as a journey work from your childhood until now?
I have loved drawing ever since I was a child. I drew a lot of things like geometric shapes, landscapes, still lifes, animals, portratis and flowers etc. Drawing landscapes and still life felt a bit boring and repetitive. But fashion illustration on the other hand was exciting, creative and so much fun. Also women’s fashion is beautiful, powerful and never ever boring.
It’s been a long journey. When I look at my illustrations from highschool to now my skills have definitely improved and I’m pretty happy with my current style of illustration. Also just last year, I started learning digital fashion illustrations and it’s been a very fun and adventurous journey so far.
If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before beginning your career what would it be?
To have a sense of urgency, create fast and believe in your gifts and skills.
How do you want your clients to feel when having one of your artworks?
I want them to feel great, confident, and satisfied with the artwork they just invested in.
Can you define us in a few words the meaning of a long-lasting artwork or drawing?
In my opinion, long lasting artwork or drawing is if it holds special meaning in your heart and especially associated with good feeling and memory then it’s a long lasting artwork.
There is one important person in your life, who pushes and motivates you to believe in yourself?
My mom. She pushes me, motivates me, believes in me and tells me that anything I can put my mind to I can do it. She is my number one cheerleader and supporter and I love her so much.
Tell us how your feelings influence the creativity process?
Feelings definitely influence the creative process. When I feel down, the brush strokes and tones of the watercolors look way different from when I feel happy and energetic. I don’t really create much when I’m in a not so jolly mood. It’s better to let feelings pass and get into the right mindspace then the creative juice will just flow and do its thing.
How are you working on building a strong visual identity as a brand?
For now I’m sharing my personal projects on social media. And I’m still testing out to see if I like traditional ways of illustrating better or to focus on more digital fashion illustrations. So I’m not really being strict with building a strong identity because I’m still in my exploring phase.
What are the next steps for you as a fashion illustrator, in order to grow up more?
I want to create bigger scale fashion illustrations and hold an art exhibition in New York City. Also, I want to work with high end fashion brands and want to go event sketching.
How do you think the fashion industry should help more independent creatives? Is there any competition that you would like to apply for?
Fashion industry could build a community or an app where they could match brands and companies to independent creatives. Kind of like matching jobs to professionals. That would be amazing. No, I don’t really care about competition and unneccesary stress. I just want to create what I want to create and work with private clients and brands.
Can you tell us a little bit about your references and inspirations for your illustrations? Where can we purchase them?
For fashion illustration, I like using photo references. For traditional illustration I use pen, pencil, marker, watercolor on mixed media paper. And for digital fashion illustrations I love using procreate apps.
For fashion designing, I’m inspired by many things, for example: music, movies, weather, songs, colors, art and people. Recently I’ve worked on a project where I designed a series of dresses inspired by everyday objects such as shampoo bottles, deodorant and perfume bottles. It was such a fun and exciting project. You can check out my works on instagram @inkfizz. You can DM me or email me for potential work or collaborations.
What are the most interesting social platforms that can help to sell your work?
I found instagram is the most important and interesting social media platform to showcase and sell your works. Instagram feed can play a role like a gallery feed and linking a website to direct potential customers to an online store and from there potential buyers and collectors can purchase a piece that they love and cherish.
Find more of her work at www.inkfizz.com or @inkfizz
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