Andrea Wan has seen the world. She was born in Hong Kong, raised in Canada and studied illustration at Designskolen Kolding, Denmark. Her experience in these parts of the world have given her a lot to draw upon (literally!).

She is an illustrator and visual artist in Vancouver. Andrea is one of the four artists featured in our collaboration with Booooooom, so we wanted to get to know her a little bit more. We talked with Andrea to ask how she is able to incorporate all of these divergent experiences in her works of art. Here’s where our conversation went:

Hi, Andrea. How’s your day been going so far?
I just got up and so far I’ve been sleepy.

We heard that you’ve been traveling as well. Could you share what you were up to and where did you go?
I was traveling in Europe for a month by myself. I went to Berlin, Geneva, Antwerp, Brussels, Barcelona and London, visiting friends and exploring the cities. It was an amazing trip and I met a lot of lovely people while I was there. I’m still adjusting to the reality at the moment.

I’ve been looking at your drawings and they seem to flow from one idea to the next. They also usually meld people and landscape together. Why is that?
I’m interested in exploring themes such as memories, the subconscious in my art and I see the drawing process as a way to discover myself.

When it comes to ideas I always try to be as spontaneous as possible, as the drawings have to reflect how I feel at the moment. Sometimes I repeat subjects that means something special to me such as horses, ghosts, and sometimes I switch to new ones. I like putting my characters in an emotional landscapes to set the mood for the piece. Drawing is like having an ongoing diary, where all my deepest feelings and anxieties are recorded down and kept secret.

If you had three words to describe your work, what would those words be?
Intimate, dream-like, subdued

Could you share a bit of your long history with illustration with us?
As a kid I loved hanging out at my parents’ design studio where there were a lot of books for inspiration and art supplies to get me into the habit of creating things. I was encouraged to draw and make crafts instead of buying toys. I remember messing around with the photocopier and Paint program on the old school Mac a lot.

In high school I was just doodling monsters while spacing out in classes that I wasn’t interested in. Does that count? I thought art lessons in my high school were boring because the teachers only wanted to see pretty things, so I ended up skipping most of the classes.

You mentioned that 8 months you spent in school at Europe were like 3 years. Why is that?
Travelling alone and living in a foreign town for some time definitely made me grow up a little faster than usual. It wasn’t only about school, but the whole experience of adapting to unfamiliar environments. I gained a lot than what I’d expect in that 8 months.

Could you share some moments of inspiration that you had in Europe? What things did you see, people did you meet that influence your work today?
During my program in Denmark, I remember walking by the textiles studios in the school and being fascinated by the big weaving machines and the cool patterns they can make. Observing these textile designs made me pay more attention to the patterns in my work. I was also inspired by the landscape and the architecture and stories from northern mythologies that I heard. Most importantly, the people I met played the biggest part in the whole experience especially those who are passionate in what they do and devoted to making their ideas happen.

You balance being a freelance editorial illustration artist with being an artist. Could you share how they’re each different?
Commission work has certain restrictions to be followed – pushing those restrictions to make something exceptional is the challenging (and also fun) part. Art on the other hand can be done at my own pace. Since my work is very personal, its harder to emotionally detach myself from it, but at the same time it can be satisfying when others feel connected to it.

Given the choice, which one would you rather be?
Doing both illustration and art gives me the perfect balance. I can’t really imagine doing only one at this point. Other than editorial I have also worked on other types of project, many of them lies in between the 2 categories. Ideally I’d like to be commissioned as an artist so my art isn’t restricted to the gallery setting.   

What do you think are the biggest challenges for someone in your line of work?
I think the biggest challenges would be maintaining your own unique voice while working for others. its important to take certain risks to push the boundaries given by the clients and yourself.

Where do you find inspiration?
I’m inspired by pretty much everything around me: people, places, moments, and how I relate to these things. For visual inspiration I like to look at works by other artists and textile patterns in clothes.

The series deals with the “After Life.” What does that mean for you visually?
To me it means leaving one’s body and going on a journey, migrating from one world to the next.

What were you inspired by when designing this particular wallet?
Some of my characters fit well into the theme of afterlife, so I wanted to incorporate them into the wallet design. I imagined these creatures from the underworld coming out from the water and then hiding their spirits in shells on a beach. They live in the shells and patiently wait until they’re ready to move onto their next lives.

Do you believe in the After Life?
I believe in it, because its more fun to think about it. In the Chinese culture I grew up with, there are interesting stories about one’s journey in the underworld before his rebirth. After death, the spirit is brought to a court accompanied by cow and horse headed guardians. The judge would tell him all the major things he has done in his life and then decide what he deserves to be next. Lastly, the spirit drinks a soup that makes him forget everything in his previous life, and walk over a bridge that leads him to his next life.

If we did have an Afterlife, what do you think yours would be like?
Maybe I’ll end up working for the government as the underworld court painter.

What’s next for Andrea Wan?
I’m currently preparing for a solo show coming up this October at Catalog Gallery in Vancouver. I’m also working on a couple other projects and a small zine.

Check out Andrea’s Poketo x Booooooom wallet at poketo.com.
More from Andrea at andreawan.com.
More of Booooooom.com here.

After months of hush-hush planning, our zipped lips are finally unsealed. We partnered with Booooooom to bring you the work of four great Canadian artists.

Next week, we’re coming out with another exciting collaboration. [Hint: It's a first for Poketo, so keep your eyes peeled for it!] But, while we’re plotting here at the studio, we also found time to catch up with the one of four featured artists.

Say hello to Josh Holinaty, everyone! Josh is an Edmonton-based visual artist and freelance illustrator. He’s done tons of work for a magazines and bands. You might have seen his stuff at Globe & Mail, WIRED or Transworld Snowboarding. On top of that, he plays drums on rock band Camembert. Let’s get a peek inside Josh’s brain for a few minutes:

How did you get into illustration?
In a way, it sort of ‘just happened’. Shortly after graduating from the Alberta College of Art & Design in Calgary in 2007, two of my classmates, Dustin Koop and John Antoski, moved on to be Art Directors at Transworld Snowboarding. Seeing and digging my stuff in school, they started asking me to whip up some illustrations for a few volumes of the magazine. At the same time Genevieve (my wife) and I had met, and her having been doing the illustration thing for a year, she started giving me pointers – mostly on the promotional side of things. Fast forward a bit of time, I’d established my client list as was starting to get a few regular gigs.

What was the first illustration that you did?
Technically, it would have been in 1995 for my uncle’s welding business, Flying Frog Welding; a silly drawing of a frog with wings, flying with a welding rod in hand and welder’s mask on his head. My uncle showed me this drawing last year – I sort of forgot about it – and it’s pretty raw stuff.

On a more serious note, my first ‘commercial illustration’ would have been the creative that I made for the Calgary Underground Film Fest during my last year of college. I designed a run of three different posters, as well as T-Shirts, in a wonky R. Crumb style. I don’t seem to have any documentation of either, sadly.

You work with a lot of artists, bands and magazines as an illustrator. What type of work is your favorite?
My favourite gigs to take on are definitely those that are collaborations with bands, mostly because it’s usually it’s poster work. Posters are the most fulfilling jobs to create because meaning is not necessary to the final product. It really just comes down to is making an image that is weird and fun to look to catch somebody’s eyes on the street, whereas editorial work which is usually more about getting a specific point across, or to emphasize a point in an article. Still – editorial work is a blast.

You work so many things and deal with a lot of topics, what do you think ties all of your work together?
The best pieces of art that I’ve experienced, be it visual, music, film etc., is that they always have an undercurrent of darkness and humour beneath them. And with an added sprinkling of general weirdness, you usually can’t go wrong. All of that put together is what I think ties most of my work together.

My personal work is usually generally silly and weird. So yeah, three things: humour, darkness, weirdness. Too simple?

Not all all.

In my personal work, I’m really focusing in on landscapes lately. Broken landscapes. Imaginary landscapes. Not sure what that means, but I don’t think anyone ever needs to know what or why they make anything anyway. And if you don’t know why you make it, it becomes that much more open to interpretation to the viewer. Just make, I say!

Where do you get your inspiration for illustrations?
I’m actually terrible when it comes to looking at other illustration for inspiration. I don’t really hunt it out. I’d say my scope is actually pretty small. Most of my inspiration to make stuff comes mostly from either video games or music, taking walks or bike rides, hanging out with pals. Not directly feeding from anything but generally just chilling out and having a good time enjoying something can put your brain into a state of creative inspiration.

Could you tell us a little bit about Poketo x Booooooom wallet design?
I’ve always looked at textiles, clothing and fashion accessories as decorative objects, that when added to your ‘costume’ contributes to whatever story you’re trying to tell with your overall look. So I guess you could basically say my wallet design is nothing more than just that. Just something open to interpretation that hopefully looks cool enough that you’d want to own it. Are they worms? Are they veins? Where are they? Hell if I know! Like a music poster, just something weird and fun to look at, open to interpretation.

Other than being an illustrator, what else occupies your time?
A few things. I drum in a rock band known as Camembert. Sort of a 90′s alt rock revival sort of thing. I also help to organize Edmonton’s biannual indie art and craft fair, the Royal Bison. After that, I put in hours at the Art Gallery of Alberta here in Edmonton as Digital Media Coordinator, working on their website, handling their social media, marketing stuff, as well as some in house design at times. Finally, when there’s no snow here in Edmonton, Genevieve and I like to grow some things in the garden in our backyard. Stuff like that. Grandpa stuff.

How do you see your work changing or evolving over time?
I want to make some giant paintings again, like in my school days. Sad thing is it’s hard to find nice studio space here in Edmonton – but it looks like a few things could be opening up this year. How I’d love to get a nice big room with some big canvases again.

That would be great! We hope you find a nice, roomy studio for your future paintings!

Check out Josh’s Poketo x Booooooom wallet at poketo.com.
More from Josh Holinaty at joshholinaty.com.
More of Booooooom.com here.

The unknown is scary, but it’s also a great place to start when looking for inspiration. That’s exactly where the artists from our newest collaboration started.

Poketo is proud to announce our newest collaborator, Jeff Hamada of Booooooom. Each day, Jeff introduces us to great new work from around the world on his site and pairs it with a few well-chosen words. That great taste (and tone) has made Booooooom one of the largest blogs on the internet, with over 3.2 million pageviews each month. But it’s not just the many eyeballs that stop by Jeff’s site that appealed to us, it’s really abundance of creativity and the sense of community evident in the site.

Our collaboration with Jeff started with our previous collaboration with Club Mumble. In the awesome way the world works sometimes, a friend can sometimes introduce you to another person who shares some of the same passions you do. In Jeff’s case, that’s certainly true. Booooooom is a virtual home for people who are excited to go out and be creative, a theme that certainly rings true with Poketo.

In this collection, Jeff introduced Poketo to four amazing artists from Canada: Howie Tsui, Andrea Wan, Winnie Truong and Josh Holinaty, who all were given a simple concept to dwell on: the after life. Whew!

That’s a daunting task to be sure. How does one capture something so nebulous? Will it be filled with castles, sweetness and light? Or will it be something else entirely?

Here’s what these four came up with:

Canadian artist Marco Cibola is another Poketo for Target contributor, known for his clean lines, subtle textures, and low-key colors. Below, Marco gives us a short and sweet interview, along with a sampling of his awesome work.

Is the glass half empty or half full?
Depends on the day. Today it’s half full.

Where in Canada are you from and what’s the best part about it?
I grew up in Montreal. The best part about it is being out of the house there. There’s always something to do and always somebody you know to hang out with. Just a fun place all around.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
Hanging out with my wife and daughter, these days.

If you weren’t an illustrator what would you be?
If I wasn’t making pictures for a living, I’d probably be making music or food.

What’s your spirit animal?
According to Jeri Smith-Ready (the first online survey I took), I’m a swan. I’m not sure I’m buying into this “spirit animal” stuff yet. It’s making me look bad.

What’s your best and worst habit?
Clearing my throat. It’s great because it feels good and feels kind of necessary, but I’ve been told that it’s annoying to listen to. I didn’t think it was a habit, but it’s probably turned into one.

While it’s still in stores, check out Marco’s Poketo for Target camera case design. You might remember it from our Poketo Middleton Plates. The camera case is available in Target stores nationwide!

More from Marco Cibola at novestudio.com.