Meet Anna Sudit
{ on leveling up }
Illuminated by the glow of a late morning light, the talented designer based in New York City opened the doors to her cozy apartment and shared captivating lessons on looking back at the past year, on being truthful to herself, and choosing her own path of action as a way to resurrect intact.
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
I was born in Ufa, Russia, but my family immigrated to Israel shortly after and that’s where I grew up. Then at 15, we made the move to New York where I’ve been since. Although now in my adult life I have taken breaks like moving to London for a year or traveling for months at a time, which is something I will keep doing for as long as I can, New York quite quickly warmed up to be my home.
I went to the Art Institute of New York, to which I entered from a painting background and no real knowledge of computer programs or how to use them but going into college I wanted to challenge myself to try something new. With that, I’ve gone through several evolutions of personal creative style and interests in my focus whether it be type, illustration, collage, or whatnot. My experiences range on quite a large scale from illustrations for printed or online publications such as Condé Nast, Vice, Refinery29, to collaborations with Coach and ASOS, branding work for a variety of clients such as bakeries, hair salons, and wellness brands, to being an art director at ad agencies, media publications, and most recently - YouTube.
What led you to become a Designer & Illustrator?
I’ve always been really interested in all things design. Fashion, interior, layout. My illustration interest came from my painting background and marrying it to my graphic design education to see what I can create moving forward.
How would you describe your style and aesthetics?
I would start by saying that both my style and aesthetics are ever-evolving. They evolve with how I evolve. I’ve gone from beauty and portraits to sexualizing mundane objects by treating them with specific details, and recently I’ve been combining my travels and overall likes into one still life type of image.
How would you describe your 2020 experience?
2020 has been a lot of growth both personally and creatively. A lot of listening and learning, a lot of conversations I haven't had before both within myself and with people close to me. It's forced me to take a step back and sort of "finish all the books I've started and never finished before starting a new one". Not sure if that's a real metaphor or if I've just made it up but hopefully it makes sense.
What did it teach you about who you are and your creative purpose?
I'm not sure I have a "creative purpose" overall per se.
Do I ? Or do I just like "creating"? This always seems to be a tricky question.
I think perhaps what it's taught me about my purpose as a creative is how much the "vehicle" of being creative matters. The decisions you make in the process be it the team you work with or the location or the swatches, and how much every single thing in the production of a creative product matters and why. It's easy to forget this because often times when you work for a client you forget how much power you actually have being an artist. And learning to think in that way has been a great and curious lesson as well as an important one.
What ways have you found effective to better take care of yourself and get your “creative juices” flowing these past months?
Since a lot of my motivation comes from the outside world and traveling, always being someplace new and seeing something new, I've had to create new rituals for myself. I've taken up new ways of exercising since I haven't been able to go to the studios. Yoga and running have been good for kickstarting a day or winding down. I take balance supplements for better sleep and more energy since such little movement can feel restricting that. I've been reading quite a lot. Anything from psychology to novels and poetry, I've always felt that diversity fueled me so reading one genre after another has been really fun for my brain. I've also found that TV hasn't been very stimulating to me or entertaining enough to keep my full attention so I've been revisiting a lot of old films that I remember watching when I was younger that I'm pretty sure had some sort of impact on me and lot of Russian cartoons I watched as a child.
Who or what are your main influences and inspirations?
My mom, Clara Tice, Marina Abromovic, nature and culture.
What words of inspiration were given to you that you would like to pass along to others?
Learn mindfulness and be able to pause. Learn to respond, not react.
Find out more about Anna's work:
@annasudit on Instagram