I am very happy to interview the well-known Toronto, Canada based illustrator Charlene Chua. She is someone that I have kept my eye on over the past several years, and I am a big fan of hers. A couple of the things that impress me about Charlene are her clearly defined style(s) and her ability to promote herself so successfully; landing a steady flow of assignments is not an easy task in today’s competitive illustration market.

Dave Hile: Hi Charlene. Could you give me a brief summary of your background? How did you end up making a living as a working illustrator?

Charlene Chua: Hi Dave! Thanks for including me in your lovely interview series!

I started work over 10 years ago back in Singapore. My first job was at a company that produced CD-ROMs and later, websites. I started out illustrating and designing screens for CD-ROM content and later moved on to designing websites. Later, I got a job as an interactive producer and interactive project manager.

I originally wanted to be an illustrator but there were no schools for it in Singapore, and my family could not afford to send me overseas to study. At the time there were no grants for that kind of thing, either. I more or less forgot about it until I met my future husband, who encouraged me to make a go at illustration. It was tough giving up my job and a stable income, although by that point I was quite tired of the office routine.

I took to drawing comics for no-name independent companies that offered little or no pay. In retrospect it was not the best idea, but it did get me back into the groove of drawing (I’d stopped drawing for about 3 years at that point). Eventually I started to get a trickle of illustration jobs, and after some time I had enough work to support myself through such projects.

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