Artist Collaboration: A Second Interview with Angela / @angelaccpan

“Experience the sights of the world with Angela Pan, as she becomes your tour guide through painting breath-taking architecture and scenic wonders.” 

An explorer at heart, Angela Pan traverses around the world and captures wonders with her paint markers. 

Read on to learn more about Angela, her creative process this time around, her take on facing procrastination, and more!

Hi Angela! We are so excited to have you back, how have you been doing & what have you been up to?

I’m happy to be back working with Mossery again! After I finished Angela Pan x Mossery Paint Marker Art Kit: First Edition, I began working on a Domestika online course and filmed it in New York. I also launched a Kickstarter for my new art book around that time. After that I took on a short contract with an animation studio that I previously worked with. It was nice working at my old job briefly just to take a break.

We are super excited to be collaborating with you again! This is the second time you’re working with us for a Mossery Art Kit and Book Covers, what was the experience like this time? 

I’m excited too! I think I have already worked with you guys once and done an Art Kit. The experience made this time around a lot easier and easy to understand for me. I knew what to create and what was expected. I had fun!

Out of all the sights of the world that you have seen and painted, what are some of your favourite cities/landmarks that you would love to visit?

Out of all the major cities I’ve been to, I like staying in London, England the most. The streets are a mix of impressive architecture and quaint English style small houses; and I enjoy painting both. It’s very modern and multi-cultural and it helps that I can get around just speaking English. I also love visiting Tokyo, of course. Tokyo is great for food and art museums. There is a long list of cities that I would love to visit in Europe and Asia. I’ll be visiting Italy for the first time later this year, so I’m looking forward to seeing some ancient landmarks there.

For your two new covers, you chose Manhattan and Paris — any particular reason why you chose these iconic places?

I just think these two cities are both incredibly artistic and romantic. A lot of artists and illustrators flock to these cities to get an art education or just to be inspired. I’ve visited both 3 times so far and soon to be 4 times, and I’m still excited to find new interesting art galleries to visit or street corners to draw. 

In your last interview, you mentioned that you were previously a  background painter and environment designer, and now you paint sceneries for a living! What is it about sceneries that draws you in so much?

I don’t know! Haha, I think it’s hard to pinpoint why someone is drawn to a certain genre or medium. Maybe it’s because I see beauty in the immediate environment around me and I can capture it as a still image easily; whereas I see more beauty in people’s stories rather than their physical being. So for anything featuring humans and animals, I prefer a medium that allows in depth storytelling, rather than a single drawing.

We noticed that you also give Paint Marker tutorials on Domestika & your Youtube channel! Is there a difference between teaching on these different platforms in comparison to the Art Kit?

I think the Art Kit is a more beginner friendly, hands-on way of learning compared to the other two platforms. The workbook includes printed templates and linework ready to be filled-in, whereas for the other two methods you would need to come up with your own line art. There is also the “relaxing colouring book” aspect to the art kit, where you can just relax and colour in blocks.

In the previous interview, you mentioned that you draw inspiration from Impressionism and art museums, what are some of your favourite pieces of art from these genres that inspire your creativity? 

I love studying most of Monet’s paintings for his use of lighting and colour. One painting of his that made a strong impression on my mind is Turkey, painted in 1877. The reproduction online doesn’t do it any justice, I was blown away by the brilliance of the colour in real life and couldn’t walk away. I also love Mucha’s Slav Epic series which I saw in an art museum in Tokyo when it was on tour.  I love John Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose and his plein air watercolour paintings. I also love some of Edward Hopper and David Hockney’s work for their composition. 

You also mentioned that you struggled with procrastination and self doubt with your art. What are some of the things that you’ve done to help you on this journey so far? 

For procrastination, I think breaking down the project into small tasks really helps. Prioritizing the more important tasks, but also letting your passion guide you to do whatever you care about the most. 

For self-doubt, I think it stems from a few things. Lack of practice will make your skills feel inadequate for the project you have in mind. If I just sketch more people, it will make me more comfortable drawing characters. Self- doubt also can be due to a lack of knowledge of whatever you want to take on. The more you find out about how exactly you can achieve it, the more you will feel like it’s doable.

Many beginners often feel pressured by the expectations of others. What would you say to those who want to learn but deal with that pressure of being perfect/good? 

Believe in your own potential and aesthetics!

Sometimes what we can produce is not at the level of what we appreciate yet, but as long as you have the ability to appreciate good art then it’s also possible to create good art. If you are not comfortable sharing your art yet, just keep it to yourself and admire your own progress by comparing yourself to your old self and not others.

As an artist, what is next in store for your future creative journey?  What are your hopes and wishes for your future self as an artist? 

My goal hasn’t really changed since our last interview haha. I still want to draw and write autobiographical graphic novels and maybe children’s books. I’ve been writing and planning since the last interview, and once I solidify the story I will start designing for it. My hopes and wishes for my future self as an artist would be to not lose any integrity and do everything for the sake of art and my values, and not for public reception or financial success.

Trivia question! What does your dream house look like? It can be as bizarre and magical as it can be!

My dream house would be super cozy and well lit. Modern yet still using a lot of natural materials. It has to be either south-west or south-east facing because I absolutely need to see direct sunlight to be happy. Being able to watch the sunrise or sunset would be a bonus. I hope it will be just big enough for my family and maybe for the outside we can paint it in white and napalm yellow.

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Angela Pan is Chinese-Canadian illustrator currently based in Canada and you can find her on Instagram here.

Experience sights of the world with Angela Pan with the new @angelaccpan x Mossery Second Edition Art Kit. 

Grab a marker and start painting today!

We hope you enjoy this curated art kit as much as we do and we look forward to seeing you all try a hand at recreating these breathtaking sceneries!