Interview with the 3rd place winner of Derby 81
Lokklyn has only been here a few derbies but already has her first win -- here's some more about her.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
#77 (Alternate History) / 1 / 1. While my first entry into #77 (Alternate History) was nothing spectacular, a near-fourth finish in derby #78 (Winter) gave me confidence to keep going. In my fourth derby, I won third place! It was a huge accomplishment for me. I haven't bought any shirts so far from Woot, unless the freebies of my own count! I already have an absurd amount of Threadless t-shirts (35+) -- it's become increasingly difficult to justify the purchase of additional shirts. I've only been checking Shirt.Woot regularly for about a month, and I'm positive I'll cave in at some point. I've had one shirt printed so far, and am hoping the future will be kind to me.
What are your tools of choice?
My hands, laptop, tablet, and, to a lesser extent, my brain. My hands are a super-advanced, high-tech model sporting ten complete digits — two of which are opposable. I also use a Macbook Pro,
Photoshop, Painter, a 12" Cintiq, and, occasionally, my 6x8 Intuos 3
tablet that's on the brink of death.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
I typically have about 10-20 ideas for any given derby, 19 of which are absolutely terrible. It's good to start small and messy so I don't feel particularly committed to a single concept, so I sketch each horrible idea out in under 30 seconds, on paper, until I find one that doesn’t suck abysmally. The least suckiest of all ideas wins a transfer onto the computer through sheer magic and force of will (read: a tablet or scanner). I resize it to a respectable, print-worthy resolution to make it feel important, and clean up the sketch in Photoshop or Painter. Then I put some gross colors on it in and call it a day.
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
I'm self-taught in illustration and design, and am about to graduate from UMBC with a BA in Visual Arts and Animation. I have a weekly comic that's been running in the college paper for over two and a half years; I used to do layouts for the newspaper, before I started working in the video game industry as a 3D texture artist on an unannounced RPG. It's suddenly occurred to me that I either have a woefully short attention span and intense fear of commitment, or pretty diverse artistic interests. Probably the former. You can look at my artistic endeavors at
HelenZhangArt.
Which artists or designers inspire you?
Vik Muniz is my favorite artist of all time. He says, “Art is primarily a copy. I don’t believe in originality as much as I believe in individuality.�� He’s a quirky guy who makes amazing pictures out of bizarre objects. As far as more current “mainstream�� artists go, I really enjoy the work of Jason Chan in particular. For historical figures I like Duchamp’s audacity, Picasso’s versatility, Caravaggio’s use of extreme contrast, Turner’s masterful use of color, Mucha's bold, illustrative style, and DaVinci’s absurd brilliance.
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
Ideally, I'd like a job in which people hand me money for just existing. Until that becomes a viable option, I'm currently working at my dream job as an artist in the games industry. The plan is to do weird freelance projects on the side while working full-time in the games industry after graduating. When I figure out how to make money doing nothing, I'll just draw dumb pictures for myself, own several pet penguins, pandas, and cats, and play video games all day.
Any plans to ever sell your designs using a print-to-order shop like SpreadShirt or CafePress?
The idea frightens me a little bit, I'm not sure why. I'd rather trick some friends who own a screen-printing business to help me out. At this point, I'm not feeling that entrepreneurial since t-shirt design is just a hobby. But who knows: if there's truly a demand for my designs, there's always the possibility of expansion.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
Be nice to people, don't drink and drive, and never experiment with cocaine or minors. Also, the three aspects that make a successful design are its concept, execution, and presentation. Identify and improve the elements you're not strong in by researching designers who have been successful before. Always remember that you can't please everyone, but knowing your target audience will help you significantly. It may be easier to submit somewhere your style and body of work resonate strongly, rather than try to change your work to meet a demand. Know that you have plenty of options at
Threadless,
Design by Humans,
Teefury, and
Cameesa.
