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At Monsterthreads we have a small love for Melbourne based illustrator Min Pin! You may recognise their work floating around on some MT gear. Keep your eyes peeled for more designs by Min Pin coming to our shops and online store soon!

Get to know the artist behind the art with our rapid fire interview.

Place of birth and where are you now?

Born in Perth, Western Australia. Now living in Melbourne, Victoria.

Did you study art? Where?

I studied Design with a Major in Illustration at Curtin University in Perth.

What/who is your inspiration?

My cat.

What techniques/media do you like to use in your art?

Watercolour paints and Photoshop.

Lightening round

+ My ultimate meal is Pub dinners.

+ My Favourite shape Blobs.

+ Best childhood book? Grug!

+ My Favourite Place? The Dandenong Ranges.

+ The meaning of life is? Love.

+ My Favourite animal? My cat.

+ Mod or rocker? Mod all the way.

Taiwanese artist Yen Jui-Lin makes adorable wooden toys. Each idea comes from sketches developed together with his two young children! 

Some are a bit spiky

Some are tall!

Some are a bit angry... 

While others are happy... and have hair!

This one loves to sing... 

These guys are soul mates...  

But whichever your favourite is... you can be sure it has a unique style developed from Yen's intricate attention to detail and active imagination. 

Here are some of the original concepts developed with his two kids:

Monsterthreads has been working with Chloe of Chloe Jasmine Illustration for the last couple of years or so. We've been in love with her detailed drawings of a vast array of flora and fauna.  

Chloe hails from Sydney, and has also been working in some of the Sydney Monsterthreads Stores over the last few years. It's been an absolute pleasure working with Chloe.

Chloe has also been working on an Illustrated Children's book. Watch our website and stores - We can't wait to stock it!

Here is a little Q&A with Chloe:

Monsterthreads: What inspires your artworks?

Chloe: I'm incredibly inspired by nature, I use a lot of the places I’ve traveled to as inspiration for different works, so much of my current work is definitely inspired by my recent trip to the North and South Island of New Zealand. As for artists, there are countless Illustrators that inspire me daily, currently Polly Fern, Furry Little Peach, Carson Ellis and Julianna Swaney are some of my favourites!

Monsterthreads: Tell us a bit about the process...

Chloe: 4. I start most of my Illustrations by sketching up the drawing in pencil, then once I'm happy with the overall look and composition I like to use a fine liner micron pen and then add colour with watercolour painted over the top. Recently I have been experimenting with gouache paints so hope to use them more in future artworks!

Monsterthreads: What makes you hungry?

Chloe: My Ultimate meal at the moment would have to be Veggie Lasagna followed by frozen bananas blended with cacao powder otherwise known as Banana/ Chocolate "Nicecream" the healthiest icecream in the world and it tastes so good!

Monsterthreads: Do you have a favourite book?

Chloe: The first book that pops into my head is the Brambly Hedge series by Jill Barklem, who's book series follow the life of a village of mice that live in the British countryside. As a kid I would spend hours re reading and studying every intricate detail in her watercolour illustrations and I find myself still looking at her books and being inspired by her artwork today.

Monsterthreads: How about places? Any special place you'd like to share with our readers?

Chloe: My favourite place would have to be up high on the headland cliffs of Curl Curl beach. There's a hidden away spot which looks out onto a pretty spectacular view of the sea, vast and endless blue in every direction, perfect place to think with no distractions.

Monsterthreads: You illustrate a variety of different animals. What's your current favourite?

Chloe: My favourite animal is always changing, I'm not even sure what it is now.. probably a red panda but ant eaters are pretty cool too so I don't know, maybe both!