Sourpuss Featured Artist! Tattoo Flash Painter Quyen Dinh
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We recently caught up with the talented Orange County, CA based flash artist Quyen Dinh. We asked her to tell us what inspires her, she showed us the incredible vintage trailer she converted to studio space, and, naturally we chatted about cartoons! Read on to learn more about this incredible artist, and take home some of Quyen's art from Sourpuss with our "You're Bugging Me Dress" or the Best Ride Shower Curtain or Tote!How long have you been making art?
I've been drawing and painting ever since I was a little girl. Nothing made me more happy and feel more like myself than when I was creating something.
What inspires you to paint?
I'm inspired by all sorts of things, but I'm mostly inspired by visual works, such as old photographs, vintage illustrations, cinema, and tattoo art in general.
Who is your favorite artist (alive or dead)?
I'm IN LOVE with the pop surrealistic works of Femke Hiemstra, which is full of imagination and magic that leaves me feeling the nostalgia of old children storybook illustrations.
What is your favorite place to travel?
Alaska.. nothing seems as majestic as kayaking and being surrounded by blue icebergs.
Do you prefer things to be shiny & new or well-loved and worn? The simplest answer would be both. I have a very eclectic taste in almost everything.
What is the worst advice you've ever been given?The worst advice I've ever been given was: Nobody ever makes a living creating art so you need to do something more practical.Did you follow it?I followed that advice for most of my life, until the pain of not doing what I loved outweighed the fear of not succeeding.
Tell us about your studio trailer!
I created the studio trailer from the frustrations of painting in a very uninspiring laundry/exercise room. I wanted to be in an environment that encouraged creativity so I set out and got myself an old travel travel and went to work on it. The aesthetics of it was inspired by the diners of the 1950's as well as the sci fi genre of that decade so you have a lot of baby blues and pinks along with silver walls and faux rivets. Unfortunately, the space is now storage, but I've created some of my best pop surrealistic paintings there.
What cartoon character best represents you and why?
Wow.. gosh, I would have to say Pinocchio 'cuz all I want is just to be a real boy.. you know, run-of-the-mill transgendered issues. haha. okay maybe you shouldnt publish that...LOL. If I were a cartoon character, I would be the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland 'cuz on most days, you can find me sporting a waist coat and I'm also always paranoid of being late.
Anything we forgot to ask that you're dying to tell us?
That there's just many facets to me as an artist and there's just so much more I want to accomplish outside of the tattoo genre like filmmaking, stop motion animation, sculpting, creature effects, and other styles of drawing and painting. The sky really is the limit!
Thanks for talking with us, Quyen!
We recently caught up with the talented Orange County, CA based flash artist Quyen Dinh. We asked her to tell us what inspires her, she showed us the incredible vintage trailer she converted to studio space, and, naturally we chatted about cartoons!
Read on to learn more about this incredible artist, and take home some of Quyen's art from Sourpuss with our "You're Bugging Me Dress" or the Best Ride Shower Curtain or Tote!
How long have you been making art?
I've been drawing and painting ever since I was a little girl. Nothing made me more happy and feel more like myself than when I was creating something.
What inspires you to paint?
I'm inspired by all sorts of things, but I'm mostly inspired by visual works, such as old photographs, vintage illustrations, cinema, and tattoo art in general.
Who is your favorite artist (alive or dead)?
I'm IN LOVE with the pop surrealistic works of Femke Hiemstra, which is full of imagination and magic that leaves me feeling the nostalgia of old children storybook illustrations.
What is your favorite place to travel?
Alaska.. nothing seems as majestic as kayaking and being surrounded by blue icebergs.
Do you prefer things to be shiny & new or well-loved and worn? The simplest answer would be both. I have a very eclectic taste in almost everything.
What is the worst advice you've ever been given?
The worst advice I've ever been given was: Nobody ever makes a living creating art so you need to do something more practical.
Did you follow it?
I followed that advice for most of my life, until the pain of not doing what I loved outweighed the fear of not succeeding.
Tell us about your studio trailer!
I created the studio trailer from the frustrations of painting in a very uninspiring laundry/exercise room. I wanted to be in an environment that encouraged creativity so I set out and got myself an old travel travel and went to work on it. The aesthetics of it was inspired by the diners of the 1950's as well as the sci fi genre of that decade so you have a lot of baby blues and pinks along with silver walls and faux rivets. Unfortunately, the space is now storage, but I've created some of my best pop surrealistic paintings there.
What cartoon character best represents you and why?
Wow.. gosh, I would have to say Pinocchio 'cuz all I want is just to be a real boy.. you know, run-of-the-mill transgendered issues. haha. okay maybe you shouldnt publish that...LOL. If I were a cartoon character, I would be the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland 'cuz on most days, you can find me sporting a waist coat and I'm also always paranoid of being late.
Anything we forgot to ask that you're dying to tell us?
That there's just many facets to me as an artist and there's just so much more I want to accomplish outside of the tattoo genre like filmmaking, stop motion animation, sculpting, creature effects, and other styles of drawing and painting. The sky really is the limit!
Thanks for talking with us, Quyen!
