SHIH-CHIA
CHAN
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2016
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2019
I L L U S T R A T I O N
P O R T F O L I O
As I live in the world, I observe the forest I am living in. I realize that I belongs IN the forest but also an individual. What I want to record are things and the phenomena related to individuals, groups, and society.
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Chapter 1
INDIVIDUAL living as Shih-chia Chan
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1
SLOW DOWN
watercolour, coloured pencil / 2019
I can always find a connection between myself and a slug, for we are both fragile, slow and a little lazy.
Slow Down is a self-practice project of sequential pictures. It is a short story, describing how a walking slug meets a rushing boy. I want to show the big contrast between the boy and the slug - one is fast and the other taking its own pace, slow but confident. It takes the slug nine cross-pages to climb over the hill. In contrast, it takes the boy just one step to do this. While the boy watches the slug walk, he was patient enough to observe it. In the end, they say goodbye to each other.
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THE FOREST AND THE TREES
watercolour / 2019
The Forest and the Trees: Sociology As Life, Practice, and Promise, a book written by Allan G Johnson helps me to see the world from a sociological perspective.
This book inspired me to draw this work and helped me to organise my thoughts about my artworks. In our society, there are a variety of people with different personalities. Everyone is special, so every species of trees in the forest is one of a kind.
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Chapter 2
GROUPS which I have belonged to
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ENLIGHTEN
acrylic / 2019
Being an international volunteer enlightened me about the world and different ways of thinking.
This illustration is about the experience and meaning of international volunteering to me. I spent time in inner Mongolia and Nepal as an international volunteer with a Taiwanese NGO when I was a university student. These experiences expanded my horizons. I began thinking more about the world and now feel that I live with everyone in the same world.
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NCHU CAMPUS MAP
ink, digital colour / 2017
This was a case requested by NCHU Office of International Affairs (OIA).
The aim of this project was to make the campus map more visual and clearer for overseas students at NCHU. Therefore, I drew the details of every building appearance with a generation of felt-tipped pen, and I use the colours between vivid and pastel colours to make the picture pleasing to look at.
The first version was created in 2017, and it was made into a poster and a 108-piece jigsaw puzzle. This version provided plenty of information about buildings and the facilities on campus. 16
In 2018, the OIA asked me to recreate another version which was simpler for use on smaller merchandise. I used bold, black lines and a mature colour palette to create a different style of the campus map. This was printed on small zipper canvas bags, used as gifts for the overseas students when the semester started.
108 piece puzzle
zipper canvas bag
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Chapter 3
SOCIETY which I have observed
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MALE GAZE
As females, we can always sense the gaze of males.
It started with me walking alone on the street at one night, passing through several drunk young men. They tried to accost me. I was too afraid to respond, so I ignored them and pretended they didn't exist. Somehow at the moment, I still could feel that they were staring behind me. Though they didn’t harm me, I can’t stop thinking about “what-if ”. There are plenty of gender expectations in society, especially in terms of women’s appearances and behaviors. From outfits to body features, females face judgements every day.
acrylic, coloured pencil / 2019
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STRAWBERRY MAN
pencil / 2016
In Taiwan, we have a term called “the strawberry generation”, which means the people born in around 1981-1991 who many older people think bruise easily, just like strawberries.
I created a character called the Strawberry Man whose head is made from a strawberry. Society expects him to be tough and able to withstand pressure from social interactions and work, so he freezes his head every night in the freezer and put it on the next morning before going to work. Hang in there, strawberry man!
At least I can become a jam after I am bruised… (22k, 22,000 NT$ was the minimum wage in Taiwan.)
Check that the head is hard enough, start another scorching hot day and try not to be bruised and rotten.
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EYEBALL MAN
Information explosion leads to the explosion of eyeballs.
In society, people are encouraged to be aware of what's happening around the world. They try to keep following the aftereffects of all events, especially to political, social and environmental issues. However, if we forced ourselves to focus on everything, we will be just like the eyeball man, self-destructing and unable to know anything more.
pencil / 2016
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PLUG AND SOCKET
pencil / 2016
When there is a news story about prostitution, people tend to blame on the suppliers instead of the requesters.
Plug humans represent males, and socket humans are females. When people find out the about prostitution, males and females both scold the prostitute. Eventually, the world is a patriarchal society, observed and judged by males.
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RECIPE FOR ALL
The trash we make in one meal exists permanently in our environment.
Since working for an NGO and being influenced by my colleagues, I have become an environmentalist and tried my best to reduce plastic waste. Though we can bring our own bags, containers and tableware while having take-out food, we face difficulties when buying ingredients in supermarkets because of food packaging. Greenpeace Taiwan has launched a petition about asking several chain supermarkets to reduce plastic packaging. I hope this issue can attract more people's close attention.
acrylic / 2019
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INCOMPLETE
pencil / 2016
The conflict between desire or expectation and reality makes people feel incomplete.
This is a story about the spherical character feeling incomplete. As it wants to eat strawberry ice cream so badly, there is a shape of ice cream in its heart. The character posts a notice to find its missing ice cream. The other cylindrical character comes by and asks it if it can help. Though the cylindrical character only has chocolate cookies to share, the shape of ice cream in the heart of spherical character still become smaller and smaller. Instead, the shape of a cookie appears in its heart, filling up while having chocolate cookies with the cylindrical character.
In our lives, we try hard to pursue the things we think we desire for; however, these desires might be an illusion or not so irreplaceable. Even if the initial desire might always remain in one’s hear t and become a regret, we can always live on with what we get.
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Chapter 4
OTHERS Daily sketches & CV
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SKETCHES
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CURRICULUM VITAE Education National Chung Hsing University, Department of Forestry - Bachelor of agriculture, GPA 3.74 - 09/2012-06/2016
Working Experiences Vision YouthAction, Taipei, Taiwan
- NGO executive secretary, graphic designer - 10/2017-02/2019
The Eslite Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan - Stationary executive - 10/2016-10/2017
Extracurricular Activities The 1st National Chung Hsing University Art Festival - Visual design - 05/2016
National Chung Hsing University Forest Week - Visual design - 05/2012, 05/2013
Shih-chia Chan cschia0108@gmail.com +886-911414700
Skills Hand drawing material
- Acrylics, coloured pencil, watercolour, mixed media
Computer drawing software
- Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
After Leaving Full-time Job watercolour / 2019
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Shih-chia Chan cschia0108@gmail.com