Scribble Town (ST): David Devries describes himself as a, “Dad, husband, illustrator, teacher—not much of a fine artist. Though I do gallery shows I am at heart an illustrator.” After you read this Scribble interview with David, you’ll know he’s a a great artist and a lot more than that! Plus he’s got great stories to match!

David Devries (DD): I once did a show and my work didn’t fit the space so I offered to redo it smaller.  The shocked gallery owners said they would never ask me to alter my art— but that is what illustrators do. What’s the job? What are the parameters? When do you need it by? In terms of personal philosophy I bend the rules when I can, break them when necessary—it is why I love kids—they are all outlaws at heart.

For my commercial work, I specialize in high impact, high drama images. I also publish a book called The Monster Engine that answers the question, “What would a child’s drawing look like if painted by a professional illustrator?” The results are startling transformations of flat childlike imagery into fully painted illustrations. This technique came from my illustration work, primarily in the entertainment field– specifically the comic book, advertising and video game markets. Some of my clients include Dreamworks SKG, Lucasfilm, Universal Studios, Sega, The 3DO company, Seed Studio, ASCAP, Tor Books and Marvel and DC Comics among others. Currently, I teach at FIT and Syracuse University as well as lecturing nationwide on The Monster Engine and my illustrations.

In addition to being well versed in traditional paintings skills I’m also an accomplished Photoshop artist and was featured in Best Practice: The Pros on Adobe Photoshop by Toni Toland from Del Mar Learning (Copyright 2007).

ST: David, the list goes on!  I think it’s wonderful that you are truly collaborating with children in the creative process of these Monster Engine artworks. In what capacity can individuals and schools get involved?

DD: There are two ways.  One—I can come to your school and either do a presentation or a workshop.  Presentations are defined here and workshops are either a 3-day or 10 week class of guided storytelling and drawing lessons designed to pique the imagination and bolster burgeoning artistic skills.

The other way doesn’t involve my presence at your school.  An an elementary school art teacher can team up with a junior or senior high school art teacher to produce collaborative art between schools.  Below are two examples.

4th Graders Use Funny Movie Maker Pro to Bring Objects to Life: An Approach Explored by Many Artists (Part 2) from Suzanne Tiedemann on Vimeo.

I only ask that the teachers, if inspired by my project, please give me credit for the inspiration in their descriptions and press releases.  Also a link to my site would be very much appreciated.  I have worked a long time to build this brand and any credit helps support all that sacrifice and hard work.

B.A. Kindergarten and XRoads So. Middle School Monster Engine Project from Suzanne Tiedemann on Vimeo.

ST: How did The Monster Engine begin?  I’m sure it’s been quite the adventure!

DD: It has been an adventure.  The idea came to me about 15 years ago and has gone on to big places—recently it was covered on CBS news this morning.

From my website…”It began at the Jersey Shore in 1998, where my niece Jessica often filled my sketchbook with doodles. While I stared at them, I wondered if color, texture and shading could be applied for a 3D effect. As a painter, I made cartoons look three dimensional every day for the likes of Marvel and DC comics, so why couldn’t I apply those same techniques to a kid’s drawing? That was it… no research, no years of toil, just the curiosity of seeing Jessica’s drawings come to life.”

ST: I wonder how it has developed to what it is now.

DD: After my niece had inspired me with her drawing in my sketchpad I thought that it would be cool to explore this idea but I just kind of forgot about it. A few months later, I was teaching at a comic book art school. The problem I faced there was that the students didn’t appreciate abstract expressionism. I explained that abstract art is needed especially in comic book work to visualize unseen worlds–places and creatures that can’t be referenced with a photograph. They didn’t care and said they still hated abstract expressionism. That’s when it hit me. If I could render a kids drawing–really detail it–then maybe they would see that abstract painting is useful.  After all, when I do a Monster Engine painting, I am rendering it with abstract thinking and planning. It worked—some of them got the lesson. After that, I wanted to see how a series would work so I did a few Monster Engine paintings of superheroes as Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews. The series looked great and then the book idea hatched.

I chose monsters because I love them and so do kids. That was in 1998 and it took 6 more years to paint all the art,  do the interviews, photograph the kids and design the book. I self published a beautiful 48 page hardcover with a dust jacket in 2005 and it became an Internet hit. During the first month of his web site’s launch, the site got 17 million hits and was linked to over 12,000 blogs. A month later I was flown to Japan and appeared on Nippon TV, where I showed his work to an astonished audience.

The website is internationally known with book buyers from all over the world since it opened in 2005. The Monster Engine has also been featured in many magazines and newspapers including Rue Morgue magazine alongside Lemony Snicket and Clive Barker.  In 2006 The Monster Engine was given an honorable mention for “Outstanding Book of the Year” at the Independent Publishers Book Awards in the category of “Most Original Concept.” I’ve been approached numerous times for TV show possibilities and but nothing has gone the distance yet.

ST: Wow! You’ve really accomplished so much! Aside from illustrating, what other kind of artwork do you do?  I have a feeling your talent goes beyond the pencil.

DD: I do concept art for games, advertising work, comic book covers and, teaching. Go to www.davedevries.com to see some stuff.

Some history:

In 2011 I finished up an expansive project called BlueShift, which is an eco-thriller, high-octane adventure – lots of action, lots of global warming. We did two issues of the graphic novel – it’s on MTV Geek I’m proud of that project.

I’m super proud though of winning a National Endowment for the Arts award last spring.  I was flown to Texas on the grant to work with underprivileged kids in Lubbock.  Watch it below or click here.

Out & About Bozeman, Dave DeVries from Lubbock ISD on Vimeo.

In addition, The Monster Engine was featured in its first commercial job.  Microsoft and Windows Phone sponsored a contest to get kids drawings in response to the following questions:

“What do you wish your Windows Phone could do? How do you imagine yourself, your family, and others using your phone?” We received tons of amazing artwork from children all around the world, each one a whimsical creation that showed how Windows Phone could help unlock a child’s imagination. It was a blast and was featured on their website—you can see them here.

Lastly, just visiting a lot of schools and doing my Monster presentations—and having a blast doing so. Here’s a video of one of them.

I use both digital and traditional paints.  For painting I use mixed media painting techniques… acrylic, airbrush and colored pencil to make the images you see.

ST: How did your creativity start to grow?  As a kid were you making art too?  If you have any stories or people that were there to encourage you, please share.

DD: I never thought of myself as an artist then. I drew pictures but no more than any other child my age. When I turned six, though, my older brother, Jack, asked me to come into his room. At the time he was the family artist—I thought I could never be as good as him. He told me to lock the door to his room. I did so. He then told me that the only way I could leave his room was if I drew from a photograph.  The idea of trying to draw from a photo was impossible to me—after all he did that–but after much crying and pleading I sat down and drew. After I was finished, the picture was so good that I drew 3 more. So, when Jack finally opened the door to his room I was a changed person—I was an artist.

As for painting—I had to wait till I was 21 years old. I lived in terror of painting till I was almost out of college—can you believe that?

ST: Baby steps…at least you took a chance and got over your fear of painting   Please tell us about My Spooky Heart. I wonder what your son thinks of it now.

DD: You know I never showed it to him.  It was done for a charity and was sold shortly after his birth.  He never saw the original and I have never shown a picture of it to him. I’m waiting till he’s a bit older to appreciate it. He’s six and I would eventually  love to have a conversation with him about it and that time in our lives.

ST: What are you up to now?  We’d love to know and join you, if possible!

DD: Just school presentations and Monster Engine commissions for now.  Thinking of doing a graphic novel story based upon The Monster Engine—still a ways off but worth the journey.

ST: Go for it!  The time is now!  Any advice for our Scribblers, you’d like to share?

DD: Just always remember that your kid is always right when it comes to their work.  You cannot impose logic upon their creations. This will go a long way to making them confident in their own beliefs and decision-making skills.  No matter what they become as adults, they learn that their ideas have substance in those early years.  Just think about it—in no other school subject do kids have the right to tell a teacher that they are wrong.  Math, Science, English, or History are all quantifiable subjects. If a kid says 2+2 = 3 they are wrong no matter how they justify it.  Art isn’t quantifiable— it teaches them to rely upon their instincts.

–fun to watch–wish I worked this fast.

ST: Thanks David for that!  Please check our www.themonsterengine.com & www.davedevries.com to see more of David Devries one-of-a-kind artwork!

Scribble Town (ST): Here with us on the Scribble Blog is ShaoLan Hseuh! ShaoLan’s creativity and energy to build Chineasy is extraordinary.  Let’s hear her story!

ShaoLan Hseuh (SH): Hi, my name is ShaoLan Hseuh and I am an entrepreneur, investor, writer, traveler and dreamer! I am also the creator and founder of Chineasy, a Chinese language methodology that will help you learn to read what many consider to be one of the hardest languages in the world to learn! Chinese!

ST: Where are you and what are you up to these days?  What does a day with ShaoLan look like?

SH: At the moment every living breathing moment is spent either working on Chineasy or with my family. With Chineasy’s Kickstarter campaign now over (having successfully raised nearly £200,000) I am now working on the hard part – fulfilling the delivery of all of the gifts I promised!

A day with me: I am a very early riser (you have to be or there just isn’t enough time in the day!), I am very into exercise and eating well and if I am not weight lifting or drinking chilled green tea then I am either with the members of my Chineasy team of my children – when they aren’t at school of course!

ST: What is Chineasy?  How did the idea for this new endeavor begin, which is so different from your past experiences?

SH: The Chinese language has long been considered the most difficult major language to learn, largely on account of the vast number and complexity of its characters. Being a Taiwanese native now living in London, this is a fact I am acutely aware of. When I began to teach my British born children Chinese, I realized just how difficult Chinese characters are for a native English speaker to learn. It was like torture for my kids! So I spent many years looking for a fun and easy way to teach them how to read Chinese. After years of searching, I realized that none of the methods out there were engaging or efficient enough. So I created my own!

Chineasy’s goal is to allow people to learn to read Chinese easily by recognizing characters through simple illustrations, but also to bridge the gap between East and West. As the best way to understand a culture is to start with its language.

Chineasy works on a simple building block principal. When you know a few key base characters (or building blocks) you can start combining them to create more complex words (compounds) which, when combined, allow you to create simple phrases and stories. It’s that easy!

ST: From what I have read online, you wear many hats and have accomplished so much across many fields.  Please let us know about this adventure you are on. How did you go from Taiwan to London?

SH: It was a very long adventure and it is one I still haven’t finished! As I child I was raised by two very artistic parents and, like most children, chose to study something as far removed from my parent’s interests as possible! As an MBA student in Taiwan I published a series of best selling software books, which were awarded ‘book of the year’. Using the royalties earned from their sale I founded my first software venture pAsia in 1995, which I grew from a team of 2 to a team of 250 by 2001. After moving to London in 2002, I began investing in and advising young technology companies through Caravel Capital, which I founded whilst studying at the University of Cambridge. Following a sabbatical in which I traveled the world I came back to London and decided to try my hand at something new. Today, I am still highly active in assisting young businesses, but I have also expanded to the mentoring and support of education, arts and culture (I am on the Business Advisory Council of Business School in Oxford University and Development Advisory Board of Victoria and Albert Museum). As a social venture, Chineasy is the culmination of both my entrepreneurial experience and my artistic childhood.

ST: Was there somebody that encouraged you to be creative and business savvy?  Also, how do you collaborate with the designers of Chineasy?

SH: Although everyone could be creative, having right environment is crucial. Everyone could be ‘trained’ being a savvy business person, but having good intuitive and constructive environment certainly helps. I happened to grow up in an artist family and loving arts throughout my life. I was also lucky enough to work with world class business leaders and global thought leaders. I am inspired by many people through out my journey. Many of them became my life long friends and consistently encouraged me to be ‘myself’. Being yourself and knowing what your ‘calling’ is helps you to have the vision beyond what people normally see in their ‘career’.

Originally I planed for Chineasy to be a purely personal project for my children and friends, but when I was invited to talk at TED, I started asking several illustrators to implement my creation. One day I chatted my friend Crispin Jameson, who is the director of an agency in London called Brave New World [BNW] and he recommended Noma Bar. This was how I started working with various parties in addition to Chineasy team.

ST: When you develop an illustration what is your creative process like?  What is your process for getting work out of your head and what are some favorite tools you like to use to create?  I especially love your color choices and the relationship between the image and character is so clear!  I wish I had these when I was learning Mandarin!

SH: The truth is it is a long and thought out process, these illustrations are much more than pretty pictures – as our three designers will tell you! Each character we create has to follow the same three guidelines: 
they have to look stunning, be stylistically consistent with what we 
have produced before and, most importantly, they have to be 
educationally effective.

Traditionally ancient Chinese was mainly Pictographic (the symbols were drawings of what they represented) yet over the past thousands of years, many of those pictographs have morphed into very different shapes from their original forms. Instead of trying to reproduce all of the historical links I use a totally refreshing approach to interoperate pictographs, as our illustrations have to be something westerners can associate therefore easier for them to remember.

Before we even start designing our team (which is made up primarily of myself, my two in-house designers, my project manager & research assistant) researches the definition, 
origin and history of the character. We then move on to the applications (for example, how to build more characters and phrases) and finally 
we consider how to make stories out of them. After this research our designers create their different interpretations 
of the character. We always have several versions and numerous drawings for each. Between us we then discuss, debate and bounce 
ideas back and forth. When we come across a challenge (which happens with nearly all of them), we discuss, sleep on it and play around with different combinations of colours, or designs.

Finally, whenever a new illustration is created, I show them to my children. If they can guess the answer immediately, I know we’ve got it right. If they struggle, we go back to the studio and do it all over again

ST: When you create a new Chineasy illustration do you take into consideration not only symbolic representations in Chinese characters, but also tonal sounds?

SH: Chineasy was started as a tool to teach my children how to read Chinese, not to speak, and so the illustrations are meant to act as a memory tool in literature not for sound. I am plotting a new method to teach people how to speak, which will be my primary project next Watch this space, soon I will be able to teach you to speak as well as write.

ST: What are some other hobbies or interests you like?

SH: Unsurprisingly, for someone who has done so many different things, I have a lot of hobbies! I like to keep busy and I believe that health is incredibly important! I spend a lot of time doing sports: skiing, swimming, weights, rock climbing. I love music and performing arts. This summer I did some painting class with my children. I would also love to teach them how to do calligraphy one day, just like the way my mother taught me. Everything. I am also very interested in Eastern medicine and spent some times studying acupuncture (that’s when you use needles to cure ailments, you can end up looking like a pin cushion). I am also a very big traveller and believe that you should experience the world through your own eyes if you can – not through foreign press

ST: How can we start using Chineasy?

SH: Its easy to become a Chineasy user. At the moment I update a Chineasy facebook page daily and already have a thriving community who seem to pick up every character I teach – it is very heartening!  I also have a website (chineasy.org) which anyone can access free of charge, as well as my newsletter which goes out to the community once a week! Now that our Kickstarter campaign has been successful I am also happy to announce that I will be having a beautiful, and educational, book published in Janurary 2014. This book will be available in both e and print formats. We are also going to produce loads of learning tools, such as flashcards and computer screensavers!

Chineasy is a gateway into the language, it is meant to help people who wish to learn, but who have always been thrown by the languages complexity. My children have learned at least 300 characters using this method and that is without vigorous lessons.

ST: I’m ready to start learning Chinese with Chineasy! Thanks ShaoLan! http://www.chineasy.org