Meet Ayinde Hall of Yin Designs and God Punch in Katy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ayinde Hall.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve been drawing and doing art for as long as I can remember. As long as I had a piece of paper and something to draw with I was making art. My parents have always supported me pursuing art and anything else I do which unfortunately is rare. But I’m grateful because it allowed me to hone my skills and take it seriously. Eventually, after taking a lot of upper level art classes in high school I decided I wanted to do art professionally in some way. I was accepted into Southwestern University on a generous art scholarship and would start trying to figure out what career path I wanted to pursue through art. A lot of people don’t know this about me but I originally went into college with the intention of becoming a gallery artist, specifically an abstract painter. But about halfway through my junior year I became dissatisfied with painting and lost my ambition. I ended up taking a 3D animation course that refocused my path onto digital art and ever since then I got into the animation medium and graphic design.

Even though I’m technically a freelance graphic designer and digital artist I’ve always wanted to draw comics for a living. I grew up reading comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes, graphic novels like Marvel comics and DC comics, and manga. Saturdays were filled with cartoons and anime. When I was about 7 or 8 years old I started drawing my own comics. I started out with comic strips, then graphic novels, and then I got stuck on the Japanese manga style. I think high school is when I really decided I wanted to do comics for a living, but my artistic skill was still developing so I was never satisfied with anything I started. I tried to get into an online comic magazine called Saturday AM during my sophomore year in college with a series called Explosion Joe. It was going pretty well until I started getting swamped with schoolwork and couldn’t meet my deadlines so I had to quit. Fast forward about four years later and I’m working on a new series called Black Lotus. It’s the first series I started and actually had the motivation to keep drawing.

And then about five pages into drawing the first chapter I get a commission from this guy named Patrick Thomas who was looking for someone to design a cover for his manga. I was never one to turn down a commission so I did it and it was probably the most fun I’ve had with a commission job to be honest. He asked me about coming on for the entire first chapter so I did some pricing for him and he said he’d get back to me. Then I went right back to finishing up college and maybe 3 to 4 months later Patrick hits me up again and this time it’s for a permanent position as the illustrator for the entire series. Thing is, he couldn’t really pay me for the entire gig upfront so I’d be taking a huge leap of faith by coming on the team. I sat in my chair staring at the ceiling in my dorm for about 30 minutes thinking it over before hitting him back and accepting the job. We’ve been working together for maybe three months straight now and the series is already growing faster than we ever could’ve imagined. It’s a huge honor to be working on the series and looking back taking on the job was probably the best risk I’ve ever taken.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, yes. We only hit some speedbumps when it came to releasing the first chapter on the deadline we had set for ourselves. Patrick’s writing is excellent, but writing with accurate spacing for each of the manga panels is something that takes practice. I set a timeframe for us to release the first chapter based off of how many pages Patrick had written, but about three pages in I realized that I was already having to spread the dialogue and actions out to more panels than Patrick had originally planned for. Soon we were two full pages behind the script and we had to cut things down a bit in order to try and release on the date we planned for. The closer we got the more I realized I would need more time so we pushed it back a week, then another day, and eventually we released it three days after the rescheduled date. So it’s been a learning experience for both of us. We’ll be extra prepared for the subsequent chapters though, so no need to worry about that!

As far as my own freelancing work it’s been pretty smooth. In fact, it’s probably the best it’s ever been. I constantly have commissions coming into the point where I actually have to decline work! I fuss about people hitting me up for work all the time, but I honestly can’t complain too much because this is the level of engagement that I aspired to achieve and I couldn’t be happier with it.

Please tell us about YIN Designs and God Punch.
My main business that I own is a graphic design gig called YIN Designs. The name comes from a nickname my college friends gave me using letters from my first name. I’m a freelance graphic designer and digital artist and I specialize in logo design, flyers, cover art, illustration, and animation. When I’m not working on God Punch I take commissions from just about everywhere to make some extra cash. I think the thing I’m most proud of as a business owner is my ability to be flexible and make sure that whatever the client asks for is fulfilled to the absolute best of my ability. What sets me apart from other freelancers is probably my varied background in different art disciplines. I think having studied a variety of art forms allows me to approach a project from unique perspectives that others may not see.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
That’s difficult actually. I don’t think I could pick a favorite out of all of them. I’d say one that stands out the most is traveling to Austin, Texas in 6th grade for a statewide, private school still-life art competition. My 6th grade year was probably one of the worst school experiences of my life. But my art got me through a lot tough situations, so when I got to represent my school as an artist I definitely poured my soul into my work. First I won the regional art competition held in the Woodlands, TX and then I got to go to the capital for the state competition. Me and about 20 other students were given a large sheet of paper and any drawing tools we wanted to use and were seating in a circular formation around a table with an assortment of objects. I believe we had an hour or so to draw the entire arrangement. That was probably one of the only times I wasn’t nervous during a competition. I had done still life drawings tons of times and I grew up copying animals and different objects from encyclopedias and books for fun so the assignment wasn’t anything new to me. I was definitely confident with what I had drawn at the end but I did not think I would actually end up winning the competition. They gave me my work back and a large gold medal with a certificate. It’s one of my proudest childhood memories dealing with art.