Be Driven or Be Driven Away.

Talking illustration with one of Toronto’s top artists: Anson Liaw

Whether you’re into art or not, Anson Liaw‘s work has already affected you. While sipping on a latté at Second Cup, it’s up on the walls bringing a calm energy to the room. Or, while reading Time Magazine, it’s visualizing a current issue that no photo is capable of showing. We decided to ask this innovative illustrator about how he’s managed to succeed in such a difficult industry, and how he’s defined his style over the years.

Pony: Describe your style to us and how it’s evolved since you started.

Anson: Well, I first understood what illustration was all about when I enrolled to take a Fashion Illustration course at the Ontario College of Art back in 1989. Fashion illustration is all about exaggeration and energy. It demands attention. So when I combined my interest in solving problems quickly and my love for making illustrative pictures that moved people, I was on my way to having an entertaining and viable style for doing illustration work professionally.

Eventually, a great Illustration Artist Representative named Bill Grigsby saw my art portfolio of fashion drawings and suggested I draw everything else the same way. He gave me some confidence to develop my work and start drawing with a more loose and energetic style. But I was still well aware that my work had to be part of a solution visually for clients, and I had to learn how to adapt to that.

Pony: Do you work with several kinds of media? Or stick to one and perfect it?

Anson: For the most part, I work with the medium I first fell in love with: chalk pastel and compressed or refined charcoal (used on print-making drawing paper). Chalk pastel and charcoal to me are the perfect drawing and painting mediums in one. It’s immediate and direct, so it lends itself nicely to my energetic and loose style. Plus I’m always learning new things about this medium with each project I get so I’ll never grow tired of it. Although nowadays I am playing with mixing traditional media with digital media, and some collage work as well.

Pony: As an illustrator, do you find your style has to constantly adapt with current trends?

Anson: Oh yes! Adapting to what’s happening in the world around us in terms of art, design and fashion has a lot to do with what people twig to for illustration work. Illustration is visual, and is part of pop culture naturally, as much as it is a valuable visual communication tool that helps inform people in the world about the news. At least to me, it’s the most fluid of all art & design mediums. It has to be “IN” with the trends colour-wise, image-wise and conceptually as well. Change is key, but I find if you have a strong foundation for an illustrative style that works well from the beginning, then it holds its ground as a brand and you can simply make changes naturally where you see fit to adapt to the current and ever-changing trends.

Pony: It sounds like a difficult industry to succeed in though. What’s your advice to someone starting out?

Anson: I always believe in chasing your dreams. If a student in an arts program graduates and wants to make pictures that tell stories or communicates important messages, then they should do whatever it takes to make that happen. Make yourself necessary in the world with your pictures. Give yourself projects and promote yourself. Be online, be on a blog, get out there and get noticed; get published somehow, enter illustration and design award shows, do everything in your power to get yourself on the map consistently. Illustrators, I believe, wear many hats to make a living. Their work is everywhere in a more wide-spread manner these days, so there are many opportunities out there for making your mark. Be driven or be driven away.

Pony: As an art teacher (at the Ontario College of Art and Design) do you find it difficult to grade artwork? Because it’s subjective?

Anson: Yes, it is difficult to grade art assignments at the university or at any other art & design school. Yes, art is subjective. The key for me to grade student projects is if the student uses illustration, graphic design and advertising thinking effectively with some personal insight into it. The quality of the journey and personal discoveries that a student goes through to solve and create visual solutions for their projects matter a lot to me when grading assignments. These are the priceless moments that I enjoy the most.

Pony: What’s the difference between an illustration used for a company and one used for someone’s home?

Anson: Illustration for my commercial and publication clients usually have a goal or “big picture” in mind and I am an integral part of the solution to the design, advertising or editorial design problem. The projects ultimately are portraying something that the client understands and/or can possibly imagine themselves applying to what they need done in a commercial way for a communication & design related project. Illustrations or art pieces I do for someone’s home is more of a fine art approach. Almost anything goes I find. But I’m finding more and more that people are liking the illustration work I do for clients to be used on their walls at home.

Pony: So when you’re not creating artwork, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Anson: I enjoy doing many, many things in my spare time. I love to play sports like ball hockey. Yeah, I know, the typical Canadian guy, eh?! I also really enjoy traveling if I can afford to do so. It’s inspirational always to see and absorb new places in the world. I love watching great films, listening to all kinds of music, etc. I love to do many things, but I believe that because I’m an Illustrator Artist, I am really working all the time – even when I’m not “working” per say. I’m like a big human sponge: a person who is always absorbing what’s happening around them in search for that next great illustration idea to happen. I love it!

See more of Anson’s artwork on his website here.

XoXo
– The Cowgirls

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