> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.mundomendo.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Oren Haskins - URL: https://www.mundomendo.com/orenhaskins/ - Published: 2024-09-25T13:15:00.000Z - Updated: 2024-10-01T05:33:11.000Z - Author: Luis Mendo - Tags: TOKYO VISITORS **Born in the UK to Israeli and South African parents,** [**Oren Haskins**](https://www.instagram.com/orenhaskins/?ref=mundomendo.com) **is a self taught artist and designer that has been living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 8 years.** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b2/ee/b2ee4b14-1bd2-45f3-b497-8268b1806582/content/images/2024/09/image5.png) **Berkeley Hawk* (still) **I remember the first time I met Oren. There was some kind of Adobe event or meetup and they took a group of us out for dinner in a fancy steak restaurant in Tokyo. I was lucky enough to sit next to Oren and we talked extensively about art, creativity and what moving to Japan was like and how I had done it myself. I really had hoped he’d moved but he ended up going to California instead. I still hope he might come to live in Japan in the near future.** **Oren’s work is remarkable. He works at Google and makes art at night when he gets home. Every time he posts something on socials I really love it more than the last post. There’s poetry, and a mastery of the craft that is rare to see in others. On his way to Taiwan, Oren came briefly to Japan for a few days and we got the chance to catch up.** ***How do you describe your profession, what you do, to a taxi driver? And someone you want to impress?*** To a taxi driver, I'd say: "I'm a designer." To someone I want to impress, I'd say, "I'm an art director at Google, working on VR and AR," but honestly, back home in the Bay Area, no one's that impressed by it. ***Tell me about, if ever, the first time you remember consciously understanding about the power of drawing or what you could do with it.*** It's a good question. I grew up around creatives in my family, so I feel like art always had value in my life. But probably the first feelings were that my drawings could make people happy, and I got validation from that. In hindsight, that's not the healthiest relationship to start with art, and I'm still trying to rewire that part of my brain. ***What would you do if your job wasn’t drawing?*** My job isn't really drawing; the ability to sketch out ideas is only a small part of what I do. 3D design, UI, photography, videography, art direction feedback, presentation design, etc.—I've always been interested in multiple disciplines, so I love that my work supports that, although I feel like I can context-switch myself into oblivion sometimes. If I weren't a visual designer, I'd maybe be a chef or a therapist. 0:00 /0:09 1× **Waves* ***How often do you draw for yourself (not for clients or bosses)?*** For personal work I go through phases. I have a lot of 3D side projects that serve as a way to explore my own passions and make me better at my day job. The other phases I’m sketching in the evenings when I'm in more of a bluesky phase of my ideas. But I have a deep compulsion bordering on a obsession to constantly create and explore new ideas, so it will never stop unless I’m totally burnt out by a crazy deadline. But even then I will try and push new ideas out. ***Is there any magic to drawing or is it something more earthly, you think?*** I think anytime anyone makes something that truly resonates with people it's like magic, even if I don't like the art. 0:00 /0:09 1× **Dusk Birds* ***Did making art save your life? And if so, how?*** Yes, I'm a school dropout. I never went to art school or college, but I kept creating, and it led to a great career that took me to a place I love in California and gave me a strong foundation of stability and inspiration in my life. And I also started teaching from time to time, getting called a professor as a dropout is still surreal to me. 0:00 /0:08 1× **Berkeley Hawk* ***How much value would you give to art in the whole scheme of things in this world?*** We can’t process life or understand each other without art. ***What’s your favorite drawing medium and how did you arrive at it?*** I primarily use 3D as my main tool. I often describe it as a combination of many passions: sculpture, lighting, photography, and motion. Although I was once a 2D illustrator and concept artist, my current job and personal interests have led me away from that path. For sketching, I almost exclusively use my iPad and Procreate. 0:00 /0:08 1× **Mini Clouds* ***Imagine I am a genie and give you a lot of money right now, so much you wouldn’t need to work a day in your life, would you still be making art?*** That’s easy. I would be making art, films and maybe games with friends full-time. ***Tell us about something you are completely UNABLE to draw without a reference.*** Something I have never seen before. I could probably draw most things really badly, but since I don’t have a photographic memory I need reference to do anything decent. 0:00 /0:05 1× **Steller Jay* (play to hear him sing) ***If you were to make your last drawing, and you know it’s the last, what would you draw?*** That's too poetic and existential for me to even think about. ***Would you consider arrogant the artists who think art is immortal and that by making art they’ll never die?*** I mean it’s true if we are lucky enough to make something timeless. We are living in a world of ideas, science, art and technology from the generations before us. But if you are going to spend your life making fan art then probably not. ***What is your relationship to Tokyo, what brought you here?*** I began visiting Tokyo on my way to see family in Australia, and it started a deep love for the city. I am both intensely inspired and overwhelmed by the city yet I feel at home here. It’s such a unique stew of feelings that never goes away with each visit. You can follow and see more of Oren's work [on his Instagram.](https://www.instagram.com/orenhaskins/?ref=mundomendo.com) Luis Mendo ⊙⟀⊙