AAPIs at the Smudge Expo for Comic Arts

Just in case you can’t get your annual fix from Small Press Expo (link: www.spxpo.com) in September, or can’t make it out to some of the other comic conventions around the country, Smudge Expo offers a smaller, intimate venue still jam-packed with indie comics (over 50 local artists!) and hands-on workshops (design your own characters!). On March 14, Asian Fortune had the opportunity to attend this second annual festival at the Artisphere in Arlington, VA and meet several local Asian American artists: Robin Ha, Cynthia Lee, and Jade Feng Lee.

 

 

Robin Ha

Hometown: My home town is Seoul, Korea but I lived in Falls Church when I was in high school.
Current city: I recently moved back to Falls Church after living in New York for a decade, so I consider Seoul, New York and Falls Church as all of my ‘hometowns’.
Major artistic influences: I can’t really pick one major influence. When I was young, Anime, Manga and Manhwa were a huge influence to me, I grew up reading it and it made me want to be a cartoonist. As I grew older, I got inspiration from all kinds of movies, music, and comics from all of the world. Some of my favorite artist of all time are: Yoshitaka Amano, Klimt, Elizabeth Peyton, Moebius, Maki Kusumoto and Shin Il Sook.
Advice for new artists: Don’t give up on art and also don’t give up on your day job until you can support yourself with your art. Choose your project wisely, and don’t work for free unless you really love and believe in the project.
Favorite Asian food: I love all Korean food, and thai and vietnamese come very close. I love spicy food and seafood.
Where to find more Robin:
Website: http://robin.megaten.net
Twitter: RobinHaART
Tumblr: http://banchancomic.tumblr.com

 

 

Cynthia Lee

Hometown: I was born and raised in the Bay Area in California. I moved to Pennsylvania for school and saw snow fall for the first time when I was 17.

Current city: Currently I’m a full-time freelance illustrator in Pittsburgh.

Major artistic influences: Tsai Chih Chung, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Jillian Tamaki, Emily Carroll, David Mazzuchelli, James Jean, Paul Pope, Mike Mignola, Carla Speed McNeil, and Trudy Cooper are my major artistic influences as an adult. Currently I’m geeking out over Sam Bosma.

Advice for new artists: Learn how to give and receive constructive criticism. As long as the goal is to improve the work and not to bully someone, this process can point out what is confusing or what is inconsistent. It is crucial to have an outsider’s perspective because the creator is often too physically/ mentally close to see clearly.

New artists should not do work for free. It’s bad for other artists, and it devalues your work. The more people see you get paid for art, the more comfortable people are paying you for your work. If you can’t get people to pay for your work, you might not be good enough yet, your pricing is confusing, or people don’t know you are selling work. The exchange doesn’t have to be monetary. It could be exchange for other skilled work or items. Just don’t do it for free.

Practice deliberately and often. Artists can draw for years and not improve. It’s not the time holding a pencil to paper that’s important, but how engaged your mind is when you’re drawing. When you’re sketching from life, really see what’s in front of you. Don’t draw what you think it should be. Experiment. Your sketchbook and doodles don’t need to be works of art, but rather explorations of subject matter, ways to draw, composition. I always think it’s sad when artists stagnant due to laziness or fear.

Favorite Asian food: My mom makes amazing Zongzi. She’s vegetarian so she makes the filling with wheat gluten, salty eggs, and mushrooms. We had a red tub full of stuffed animals she would empty out on the floor so she could rehydrate large bamboo leaves for the outside of the zongzi.

Where to find more Cynthia:

juniperfloor.tumblr.com

etsy.com/shop/greenonioncomix

 

 

Hometown: Born and raised in Montgomery County, MD!

Current city: I currently live in Gaithersburg.

Major artistic influences: This is a tough question to answer since there are so many, and I’m constantly discovering more artists and sources of inspiration! But if I were to narrow it down, the most long-standing visual influences have been Studio Ghibli–especially the various concept work that goes into making their films, Magical Girl manga, and Classical Chinese Paintings–particularly of legendary ladies, flowers, and animals, I really like the sense of balance between the observed and the poetic in those ink paintings, and it feels really therapeutic to admire them. I am also very inspired by food – the craft of cooking, and the experience of eating – so I’m a big fan of food-centric comic creators like Robin Ha and Lucy Knisley to name a couple.

Advice for new artists: Developing good time management and organized business sense is invaluable! So when your parents tell you “I support your endeavors to be an artist, but maybe you should take some classes in management or math or econ or comp sci, etc.” don’t be so quick to dismiss them! As artists, having more skills (particularly technical skills) under your belt can only improve your ability to create more broadly impacting work, even if those skills seem completely unrelated to expressing creativity.

Favorite Asian food: Dumplings forever.

Where to find more Jade:

http://dumplingheart.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/dumplingheart