Interviewing: nightgate

What is your name?

My real name is Amna but I prefer to be called Mino.

Examples of your work:

the cover on the top are my recent covers and the covers on the bottom are the covers I made last year

here is an example of my simple, minimalistic, and vector covers;

Why did you join Wattpad?

I joined Wattpad because I was looking for a fanfiction to read, and I couldn't find any books that I liked on Quotev.

How long have you been making graphics for?

Almost two years, but I started taking requests on April 2015 on Instagram then opened a Cover Book on Wattpad in September 2015.

How did you get into graphic designing?

Well, I used to have a lot of free time on my hand. So, I started making covers on my phone for every book I stumbled upon. And because I liked making covers, I continued on making them, even though they sucked, I thought they were great.

But then, when I was finally able to download Photoshop, thank god, and once I got the hang of it, I decided on taking cover requests.

my first cover;

I might cry

What type of graphics do you make, and which do you prefer?

I make covers, picspams, edits, sometimes banners and icons. I prefer making picspams because it easy, fun, and fast to make. And for the covers, I prefer making a manipulated cover or a minimalistic cover.

What is your favourite part of graphic making?

The results, my favorite part is the results. I love how I started with nothing and after putting my hard work, something came out of it. And it makes me glad that people actually like them.

How long does it usually take you to make a graphic?

When I started it used to take me less than two hours, because I used to only use a model, a background, and filters. But now it takes me up to five hours to make a cover since I add a lot of textures, and sometimes I have to redo the cover, for it to turn out better.

What program(s) do you use for making your graphics?

I only use Adobe Photoshop CC on my desktop

Where do you get your inspiration from/who inspires you?

A lot of graphic designers on Wattpad, and it would take me a while to list them. But here they are, irwinthegod, moonxriver, ValeryHoranHemmings, deadrot, MadelineSane, SurvivingDreams, diagonas, ArtiePants, Abyss-of-Crazy, and LotteHolder. And sometimes I get inspired by the story plot or a movie poster.

Do you have any tips for aspiring graphic designers?

I am really much of a great tipper, but here are the things what I learned in the process while making covers.

Never give up, yes, I always almost gave up after seeing how there is a lot of graphic designers out there who is better, I always thought, why do I make covers when there are better people on doing them. But then, I thought, hey, just let me try and get to their level.

Practice; yep, practice is important, if you don't, you won't get anywhere.

Ask people for help; even though I rarely do that, because I get scared speaking to new people. Just do it, it would help you a lot!

And yeah and that's all I have.