My interview for this week’s Wednesday Indie Artist Fixx is with Malaysian artist Yee Von Chan. Yee Von sells her prints in her Etsy shop Yee Von Illustrations and she also sells the cutest paper goodies in her Etsy shop called Whimsy Whimsical. Yee Von is inspired by the clouds in the sky, forest creatures and is available for freelance illustration and design work.
Learn more about her and her work in the interview below.
What are your inspirations in your art and life?
I grew up near the mountain and spent my childhood close with Mother Nature: plucking flowers, catching butterflies and grasshoppers or collecting rubber tree seeds. My childhood has great influence in my artworks. On the other hand, I also like stars, clouds and birds which are the inspirations for my artwork series.
What’s your creative process like?
Each piece is hand drawn individually on paper with pen & ink and then is later scanned and colored in Photoshop. The combination of traditional medium with computer techniques works very well for me. While keeping the personal stroke of every line, I could easily explore different color shadings without messing the original piece at the same time.
What’s something you’ve learned as an adult that you wish you knew as a kid?
I wish I could have learned how to be a better cook myself. At least how to bake a delicious cake or make a nice apple pie.
Share something silly about yourself.
Oh.. I have a funny habit that my hands just can’t stop playing with whatever papers I can get whenever I sit down, be it receipts, paper scraps or even a notebook page. I often tear them vertically and make them into a chain paper.
Do you have a mentor? If not, who would your dream mentor be?
It could be a lot easier, if I have a mentor, but learning everything on my own is also an unique experience too. You might get to learn something valuable through your many trials and errors. However, I do wish Emily Martin from The Black Apple were my mentor.
What blogs and mags do you read and what shops do you shop at?
I don’t usually read mags, but I read a lot of blogs. Here are some of my favourites: Hello Friend, which has a lot of wonderful inspirations; Inside A Black Apple by Emily, one of my favourite artist; Secrets of a Butterfly, which is very whimsical and sweet.
