Today we’d like to introduce you to Han But Vintage.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been making art my entire life. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t actively creating something. Everyone has always associated me with being an artist. I was also a professional school/wedding photographer for a few years and having an art show in 2018, although I retired from portraiture and weddings after the pandemic started in 2020. I also went to Northwest Missouri State in 2014-2015 pursuing a BFA in painting, learning to make my own canvases and improve my oil painting techniques as well as developing watercolor skills. In 2019, I got my first iPad and apple pencil and bought Procreate. Until September of 2020, I mostly used it to play around and sketch and I converted everything I was doing to digital art. In September of 2020, I saw a piece by the Instagram artist @ruttu_ruttu who specializes in mid-century inspired figures and art that went viral with a demon girl saying “use hand sanitizer” and from there, I started exploring the vintage art and pinup community. I also discovered the use of halftones to give illustrations the effect of old paper print comics and just kept improving on my figure drawing skills. I started my Instagram in October of 2020 and somehow, I hit the algorithm jackpot, going from 1k followers in February 2021 to 13.5k as of writing this in August 2021. Still not sure how that happened, but kid Hannah would be happy to know so many people see and love her art.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m not sure if it’s truly a smooth road, but for the most part it’s been great. I feel like my Instagram has maintained a positive space where I can create and make friends. I had definitely gone through the hardest years of my life from August 2019 to August 2021 struggling with personal and family issues. In August 2020, I secured my dream job in the healthcare industry which remains my day job. I just make art on the side when I have downtime, usually in the evenings. I couldn’t imagine my life without these two driving forces: my art and my career. The vintage art community on Instagram is AMAZING and I am so thankful I found this little space on the internet. It’s crazy because a lot of the artists I found initially when I first started making pinups are now good friends of mine! And I think they all deserve the world. I also made some real-life friends from my art too and I think about how grateful I am everyday to know and love them!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So the art I specialize in is retro, mid-century, vintage style femme figures. I refer to them as femme because I don’t believe all of my characters or pieces identify as strictly women. But to be honest, I suck at drawing masculine features and figures–I’m working every day to get better at that! Most folks know me for my devil femme figures–usually comic-book-like bad girls. My other thing is that I don’t draw clothes very often in my pieces unless it’s a commission. And the reason for that is that I suck at drawing clothes, so this pinup style is perfect for me! I think what I’m most proud of is that I could afford to quit my day job in the healthcare industry and live off of my art commissions and sales revenue. But personally, I don’t like being financially dependent on variable factors or other people. It’s just really nice to kind of be validated by that income source.
How do you think about happiness?
There are so many things that make me happy! My family, my cats, my husband. My friends are incredible and I have the best followers on all of Instagram. I’m also able to support and lift others up with the platform I have now, and that always makes me so happy. It would be a lonely view at the top without friends to share the summit with. I also love what I do in healthcare–I work from home, but I help people and solve problems. It’s all kind of dreamy, I still can’t believe where I’m at in life because I never thought I could be this happy or successful. It also makes me happy to know that friends and family are unknowingly sharing my art on their Facebook or social medias. They have no idea it’s me!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: inprnt.com/gallery/hanbutvintage
- Instagram: instagram.com/hanbutvintage
