Interview: Shawn Smith of Shawnimals

If you’ve ever met Shawn Smith, you know the guy is a ball of joy. His beard arrives before he does and his smile is clearly an authentic, natural expression of a dude who has built a creative life he can be proud of. Shawnimals is his brain-child, infecting unsuspecting art-lovers with the prints & plush they never knew they needed, and which builds bridges between street art, illustration, & character driven design.

His aesthetic and the aesthetic of Shawnimals is the epitome of accessibility, melding foreign influences with an illustrative style that invites all equally.

After finally meeting up in person, hitting it off, and making various plans to work together, we thought it wise to give readers a glimpse into the latest musings, tips, and pontifications from the man himself. Shawn Smith is the type of person IPaintMyMind loves to include in our mission – he’s positive, creative, collaborative, and gets things done.

Whether insights into his process, a view into his role at Threadless, or anecdotes about how he got started, we’re proud to share this interview with Shawn Smith of Shawnimals.

Evan: Shawn! It’s been so great to finally personally connect with you over the last 6 months. I’ve known about you and your work since 2008 or so, so it’s not only awesome to put a name to a face but to get along so well. Your positivity is infectious, man.

Shawn: It’s weird how the world works sometimes! It’s like we’ve been in the same orbit for years, just not in the same place at the same time. Glad to finally connect, and make awesome things happen!

EL: So how are you, dude?! Weird times indeed. It would be nutty to launch into this interview without at least addressing the times we live in and the uncertainty and anxiety so many of us are feeling. It’s wild to me how many wide-ranging social issues and area in America that have been brought into focus as woefully lacking. We have a lot of collaboration & creative problem solving ahead of us.

SS: True that. It is super weird right now, but it’s also a huge opportunity to help. This is a sort of peak experience for the world, and I hope we come out of it on a new plateau with a fonder appreciation of each other and life itself. We are as connected as we are fragile, so we need to support each other.

EL: I hear that, amigo. I certainly feel like there is a lot of opportunity to help each other and solve problems in new, cool ways, especially after this.

Do our readers a little favor and give us the synopsis of moving to Chicago, launching Shawnimals, and an overview of your career to date.

SS: My career is… colorful. But that’s a given, right? 😀 Let’s start at the beginning with my time as a video game reviewed for Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine (EGM, for short). I worked there for a number of years as a writer, and it was amazing. But that itch to make art and design was STRONG so I left the magazine to finish my college education.

I obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting, and never looked back. It was during my redo college years that I started making cute and weird plush toys, inspired by stuff I saw coming from Japan and Korea. I thought, “hey, I have a lot of little doodles of characters in notebooks and sketchbooks, so I could make my version of stuff like this,” and that was the birth of Shawnimals.

I was in the middle of nowhere Illinois for college (ISU represent!) and then moved to Chicago in 2003. Logan Square was a lot different back then! Focused on Shawnimals full time in 2005, had employees in 2007, Ninjatown video games in 2009 and 2010, lots of collectible toys throughout with Rotofugi, Squibbles, and Kidrobot, and now tons of art and murals all over the place. I’ve always operated with a creative bottomline rather than a monetary one, and it has served me well.

EL: I often like to say… exposure, inspiration, creation. It’s that same process we try to ignite for the schools we work with. Specifically, what stuff out of Japan and Korea were you enjoying?

SS: So many great things. In no particular order: Tamagotchi (early stuff), Domo-Kun (long before that character was stateside), Pokemon, Mega Man – and really a lot of Capcom and Konami stuff – not to mention Nintendo franchises. They always walked a line between being for kids and adults simultaneously. Love the thoughtfulness of the characters, while generally being super simple.

EL: Now let’s get into process a bit, because I find that most people who love a certain type of art are thinking about. As in, how did he make that? It’s obviously going to differ based on the project but maybe you can differentiate between client projects and the stuff you put out via Shawnimals.

SS: Sure thing. I’ll start with this: best case scenario – you are your own client. You love what you do and you’re happy to do it, even if it’s a struggle. That’s key regardless of what you’re doing. Second, ALWAYS CREATE. You can hypothesize this or that with regard to social media or maybe what you could or should be doing in the studio, but NOTHING will replace quality work. Period. Focus on that, and then be smart about the other stuff. Remember not to be distracted by stuff that ultimately doesn’t matter as much as your work.

To start simply, I use a mix of analog and digital media and mediums. I like to mix it up. Nothing is like drawing and painting. But I also like digital to work through ideas, colors, and new directions quickly. It’s also nice to use digital since it’s a direct link to social media platforms.

Beyond that, I look at it like this for both my own work and for others…

• Brainstorm and understand what it is you’re trying to accomplish, even if it comes from a place of make believe.
• Sketch, sketch, sketch – thumbnails and visualizing things with images and words is super important. Gotta work through it.
• Asterisk to the above: don’t be paralyzed or think any ONE idea or image is precious or perfect. What you make is important, but don’t cherish only one idea. Iterate, push through, and see where else your ideas can go.
• Trust your gut and focus on what’s working, and continue refining. Difference with clients is sharing ideas with them, of course.
• See it through, and make sure everything you do has purpose. Why is that mark there, or why are you choosing a color, or texture, or anything? The reason doesn’t need to be epic or grandiose, but when you can answer that with confidence, you’re doing it right.

Shawn Smith of Shawnimals: 5 Tips on The Creative Process from IPaintMyMind on Vimeo.

EL: You’re also newly minted as part of the Threadless team, congratulations!! How’d that come to be and what’s your role with them?

SS: Thanks! I’m the Art Director there now, and am absolutely loving it. I’ve been Chicago homies with a lot of the crew at Threadless for years (they’ve been around 20 years this year!). Have had nothing but love for them and what they do for artists, but honestly didn’t consider a job there until we started talking about it seriously. And then it was like “oh, wow – this is the perfect fit and I could really help out artists around the world and the company itself,” so it was ultimately a no brainer. I feel very lucky.

Given the state of things, we all rallied together and started the Community Action Plan where artists on the Threadless Artist Shops platform can earn a ton more money right now at no cost. It’s dead simple and awesome, and we all feel so good that we can do something like that right now!