In Conversation with Shih-Yu Lin

We sat down with Bright artist Shih-Yu Lin, an illustrator and creative hailing from central Taiwan. From a young age, Shih-Yu has had a love for drawing and found himself captivated by the play and movement of light and shadow. After graduating in 2017 and now based in London, he has been pursuing his career as an illustrator. Shih-Yu’s work is very playful, often filled with rich landscapes and unique, expressive characters. We chatted with Shih-Yu to get a better idea of where he gains his inspiration.

To start, please share your introduction into illustration. How did you get to this point in your career?

My mum once told me how she loved my little doodle and hurried to show this piece to my dad to share her cheerful smile. I can’t forget this moment and I always love to see people smiling on their faces when they see my works. Drawing always brings joy to me and I think this is the only thing I have continued doing all the time since I was very little. Both my mum and dad loved drawing and frequently visited art galleries during their weekends off, and my younger brother and I had spent a lot of afternoons with them together in those places. It was simply very fun for me to see some fun figures, different colours and shapes, and endless combinations from the art works on display. I guess it had some influences in my little head.

I wasn’t very sure how to be an illustrator before I came to this point, but I always love to read picture books and often am left amazed by seeing so many possibilities of visual story telling in picture books. It just made me feel it would be so wonderful to dive into this world as a life time job and to be able to explore more in different book projects!

Your illustrations have such depth to them. Where do you get ideas for world building and your individual characters?

Observation drawing helps a lot, and it’s an important part of my works. There’s always a pen and a small sketchbook in my pocket and I sketch everywhere when I can. Shops, buildings, people, pets and many random subjects such as pattern and colour or different hair styles or how dogs behave on the tube (they are so cute while dozing off!) This practice is so helpful for building up a memory bank to use on many projects and it’s fun by observing details in real life!

It’s similar to my characters, the experience of interaction with people in the daily life or observing people on the street, or sometimes, I simply get references from the people I know. (Which maybe is the most convenient way to do so!)

What elements of the natural world inspire you?

Forests, wild animals, oceans, moors and so many others, I love all of them. There are always so many surprises in shapes, colour palettes, and patterns to be discovered in the natural world and it’s so enjoyable to just be in nature.

We love the cat series of illustrations you have on your Instagram! Can you share a little more about those?

Oh! Thank you so much, I love them too! My wife and I love cats and have always wanted a kitten, but we’re not really in the position to have one, as we often move around and don’t feel very stable to have a pet with us now. So, to build a cat’s world makes me feel like living with them in their world. Many of cat’s places are based on my life experiences, and I have fun while drawing them. For example, the cat’s art studio is Joan Miró’s studio in Mallorca, the bus station is my hometown bus station, and the town is from my sketch on the way to Bath. I like to explore this cat’s world and I’m really glad to know someone loves them as I do!

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Shih-Yu is represented by Susan Penny. To work with Shih-Yu, please email Susan.