Our friend, Yasin Yolcu (better known as @yasinylcu on Instagram), is the creator of some of the most beautiful, unique, and awe-inspiring work we’ve discovered. We fall in love with each of his pieces and greatly admire his ability to use Mextures to create stellar coloration, toning, and smoothness. We had a quick chat with him recently about his life and his artwork. Read along and enjoy!

Hi Everyone! My name is Yasin Yolcu. I am 22 years old and I live in Sakarya, Turkey.

WHAT WERE YOU LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL?

High school was my favourite part of my life. I gained all my best friendships and the most important experiences in high school. I was using Photoshop but I couldn't make manipulation work. I used Photoshop only for removing parts of images and changing colours, but I always had an enthusiasm to learn more about Photoshop. I was afraid that I would be able to utilize Photoshop well, but ı decided to do it anyway.

I was always impressed by the manipulation work that I saw on social media and I decided to make my own way to learn it. I started with watching informative videos and tried to do them again and again. I was sharing my work with my friends to get their feedback, but it wasn't enough for me. I was wasting most of my time in Photoshop. As a result I wanna say that my high school times was the beginning of my visual intelligence.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Graphic designing has always been the most important part of my life. It is precious to me. My dream and my goal is to work for a gaming company as a graphic designer.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COMFORT FOOD?

My favourite food is the Turkish Kebab and the best Turkish kebabs are made in Bursa and Sakarya. Also, my favourite dessert is Baklava.

WHAT IS YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL?

My spirit animal is the eagle because of its freedom in the sky and its power always impresses me.

WHAT TWO CELEBRITIES WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BE YOUR PARENTS?

Vin Diesel and Megan Fox.

IF YOU FOUND $100 ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?

If I found $100 on the ground ı would give it to a person who needs it more than me.

WHAT’S THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT YOU THAT WE WOULDN’T LEARN FROM INSTAGRAM?

I want to answer this in 2 categories as good and bad.

Good: I have a friendly and funny character (my friends laugh at me a lot).

Bad: I always want to be better and better even if the thing that I’m doing is almost perfect.

HOW DID YOU FIRST GET IN TO DESIGN?

I started this after noticing the massive imaginary world in my mind and I improved it step by step. So my visual intelligence developed over time and my interest in animation and silhouettes keeps growing.

HAS SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYED A ROLE IN YOUR WORK?

Yes it has. I have been  inspired by people and pages more than I think. It's been a great experience for me and I improved myself by watching what others were creating. As a result, my work has been shared on big pages and it is great honour for me.

HOW DO YOU GENERALLY APPROACH YOUR EDITING PROCESS?

I search on design pages and through stock photos before I start editing so this makes me create drafts. I start editing and I always create my own perspective and ideas on my works. Mextures is a great source of creativity for me. It is so important to my creation process. Mextures makes me think outside of the box and allows me to make the changes I need to my art.

WOULD YOU SHARE TWO OF YOUR FAVORITE PIECES WITH US?

While I was making these two pieces I had planned for them to be funny and pleasant. I tried to make people feel this and I believe I achieved that. These are unique works of mine in that I created them both on the first try.

IF YOU COULD TAKE CREDIT FOR ONE INSTAGRAM FEED, WHICH WOULD IT BE?

I wish I could take credit for the Adobe Photoshop page!

See more of Yasin’s work here!