To Paraphrase …

“… And I Dig It!” is when I feature a mini interview with an artist (drawing, painting, music, photography, sculpture, whatever) I dig. This feature should be updated one Thursday a month. If you have an artist to suggest, even if it’s yourself, drop me a line to your website!

This month’s feature is Emily Chen!

• To start, please tell us a bit about yourself. What’s your story?

I was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, where I still live. I grew up playing lots of ringette, softball and piano. I must’ve gotten into every DIY fad there was: friendship pins and bracelets, FIMO beads, tie-dye… I studied Fine Art at Queen’s University, with a specialisation in printmaking. I learned graphic design and computer skills on the job; I worked 5 years in the agency setting, and have been a freelance designer/illustrator for just over 5 years now. The t-shirts came about when I decided the only way to do more illustration work was… to do it!

• How long have you been creating?

When we were kids, instead of colouring books, my parents gave us piles of paper and drawing supplies… we’d make our own murals and characters. My big sister was incredibly creative, and so I would just copy everything she did when I was little. It started early!

• What inspires you?

I’m moved by all sorts of things — a good movie, something someone says, whatever’s going on in my life, anything that catches my eye, a dream, etc. I do a lot of thinking about words and concepts, and most of my best ideas come when I’m falling asleep or waking up.

• Please describe your creative process (the how, the when, materials, etc.).

I do a lot of background before I create a design — lots of sketching and brainstorming in a sketchbook with my trusty Micron pen. I do the actual illustration on my Wacom Cintiq 21ux — a tablet/monitor that I draw on with a ‘pen’ mouse — usually in Adobe Illustrator. I get the artwork printed on acetate, which is what is used to expose the screen for printing.

I used to build my own screens, coat them with emulsion, and expose them myself, but this is such a technical and finicky process that I outsourced this step for my most recent run of designs. What a lifesaver!

For the printing, I always have help — either my keen Dad or I hire a friend. For each session, I decide what design I’m printing on which shirts in what colours. We get the shirts ready on boards (to flatten/stretch them), I mix up the ink colours I want, we set up the screen… and then I print away!

I have a page on my site that runs through the process too, avec photos:
http://www.mchenwears.com/behind_the_scenes.html
— Since I posted this last year, I now outsource steps #2 and #3.

Singer Bryan Adams, wearing one of Emily's tees

• How did you discover this passion for printmaking and screen printing?

When I was growing up, my Dad dabbled in screenprinting at home. I tried it out in high school a bit, and then specialized in printmaking while getting my Fine Art degree; I learned lithography, copper etching, lino… but my favourite was far and away silkscreening. When I started up ‘m chen wears’ a couple of years ago, I hadn’t touched a squeegee or screen in almost a decade.

• Running your own business has to have its challenges. What are some of the biggest ones you’ve come up against?

Number one is definitely balancing everything — running my day business (as a graphic designer/illustrator), running my side gig (shirt designing/printing), sleep, friends and family, admin, social media stuff… after 5 years of self-employment, it’s still a work-in-progress. I’m getting better at the precious skill of saying “no”. I hate bookkeeping with a feisty passion, particularly taxes. Sometimes it can get a little lonely. Really though, it’s the most rewarding thing to run your own ship, and I’ve never been happier than I am right now.

• What’s your biggest artistic disaster to date? How did it help you progress?

Ha ha… I can think of a few pieces of artwork I’ve created that I look back at now and consider disasters
For the shirts, I would definitely say it was the ordeal of trying to expose screens. I had multiple failed attempts throughout my 2008 line, it was disheartening… To put in days’ worth of work, and then have the image wash out, which would obviously delay my printing schedule… So I decided to have my supplier do this step, and the time and heartache it saved me is worth every penny! It made me realize that delegation (which is tough for control freaks like me) can be very worthwhile.

• Knowing some artists have a hard time letting others help create their “babies”, was it hard to outsource at first or was it just a relief that you could have someone else do that stage for you?

The steps that I outsource are: (1) coating screens with photo-sensitive emulsion, and (2) exposing the designs onto the screens. I still do all the original artwork before these steps, and then the screen-printing onto the shirts after. So since I still do all the creative bits, it was actually a huge relief for me to outsource the finicky technical parts that I sucked at!

• What’s your favourite piece that you’ve done?

Back in school, I did a silkscreen called “In the Long Term”, and it’s still one of my favourites (first sample here: http://www.emilychendesign.com/art.htm)

In terms of my shirts, I’m fond of “re[CAP]”. First of all, I have a huge soft spot for chickadees. And secondly, the über-clever idea for this design came from John (my fiancé). After weeks of me talking about “re-” words and how I could illustrate them in different ways, he chimed in with the idea for this one. I think of it as a collaborative project!

• Do you specialize in doing the tees, or do you also do prints on paper?

In school, all my printmaking was on paper; but these days, I’m just printing the shirts. If I were to try the paper prints again, I’d have to use different screens (finer mesh for paper prints) and inks. As it is, the shirts are just a side gig, so I don’t see myself also dabbling in frame-able prints anytime soon… though if I had the time (and space), would love to try it again.

• What’s the best advice you were given when starting out?

Learn how to say “no”.

• Do you have any advice to give others?

What’s been made patently clear to me as I’ve bumbled my way through this business is (cheesily enough): You can do it. In this day and age, if there’s something creative you want to do and share with others, all the vehicles are there to give it a try. With all the websites, resources and social media out there, pipedreams of craft-making and hobby-doing as being viable careers (even if part-time) are actually do-able. I’m not saying that you should remortgage the house… just that if you have a creative passion, then there are always ways to do them and share them with others if you want. If you do it intelligently, you won’t ever regret trying; whereas you most certainly will always wonder “what if…” if you never give it a shot.

• What’s coming up for you; any big plans artistically?

I have four designs done for my 2009 “re[VERB]” line, and I’m aiming to have four more for Fall!

• Recommend 3-5 artists the rest of the world should know about.

Only FIVE???
rikrak — http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5073739 — one of the most deserving DIY success stories I have the pleasure of knowing.
Lori Joy Smith — http://lorijoysmith.com/home/ — I went to high school with Lori, and her work makes me smile
Stéphane Tartelin — http://www.tartelin.com/ — amazing illustrations.
Corid — http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5132530 — wonderful characters and textures.
Alex Dukal — http://www.circografico.com.ar/ — more drool-worthy illustration!

• Where can people find you and your work?

Blog — http://www.mchenwears.com/blog
Etsy — http://www.mchen.etsy.com
Wears site — http://www.mchenwears.com
Design site — http://www.emilychendesign.com
… and I do local craft shows here in Ottawa.
Twitter — http://twitter.com/mchenwears
Facebook Group — http://www.facebook.com/mchen?ref=profile#/group.php?gid=18652185433