Into the Tee’s of the Flying Mouse

An Interview with Illustrator and Tee-Shirt Designer, Chow Hon Lam

Part 2 of 2 (link to Part 1)
Click on any image to increase it to original size.

I don’t know if this is some big secret, but just to go ahead and ask: where did ‘Flying Mouse’ come from?
I was looking for a nickname that people could easily remember.

What appeared in my mind at that time was the main characters from one of my favorite childhood cartoon, namely, "Mighty Mouse". I always loved this cartoon because here was a mouse with superpowers that could even fly like Superman, lol.

So, I changed it slightly and decided to use Flying Mouse instead of Mighty Mouse. You know, to avoid any issues with copyright infringement!

Hon Lam, with so many options today for getting your work ‘out there’ – including blogs, fan sites, Twitter, Facebook, etc. – what is your approach for keeping your work in the public consciousness?
Well, with this project still going on, I'm literally updating my work every 7 days at least, again, releasing 7 new designs every week.

I do my best and try not to be late with my updates, so that people will know they’re there, be able to count on these new pictures and as such come back to check on my designs every week. So, yes, just using every means at my disposal is important, including such sites as Flickr and more.

One thing I believe in very strongly is that besides creativity, discipline is very important for an artist as well!.

Your sense of humor is simply marvellous for so many of your shirts, but sometimes there are ‘lessons’ to be learned, too, in your illustrations. How do you find a balance between making a good message for your viewers and becoming too, I don’t know, political?
Political? Hm, I don’t see that, not really. I only hope my designs bring some smiles to people, this is what I always keep in mind when designing.

And like what I said before, I think of my pictures as being sometimes "something" that needs me to speak for them. And trust me, "they" have something to say.

Can you share with us one thing that no one or let’s say not many people know about you that will not get you arrested or otherwise in trouble?
One of my designs is a rip off of another artist's work. Try to find out which one and have me arrested! lol

Thank you very much for your time!!
Thanks for your time too, Ziggy. And remember, keep checking back at www.flyingmouse365.com as often as you want! There’s always something new to enjoy!

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Chow Hon Lam is a youngish, uh, young man plying his trade in the beautiful area of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Others have described in his ‘bio’ that ‘The works of Hon Lam aka Flying Mouse are consistently blessed with great ideas that dance flamboyantly between hilarious criticism of pop culture and elegant surrealism. Getting a commission to design a T-shirt for Threadless, a popular US based online store, is something designers shout about. Hon Lam has (several) designs published by Threadless and won three prizes at Threadless' annual Bestee Awards for Most Printed Designer 2007, Newcomer of the Year 2007 and also for Best Concept For A Design 2007.’ He’s shown here looking very dapper during his participation in the Martell Rising Personalities Awards '09.

Hon Lam’s works can be found at his home-page mentioned above, and do make sure to also vote on his daily offers at this link. You can find dozens more pictures and information at a number of links including this one and also that one or even way over here or perhaps just here, too. In addition, if you’re addicted to Facebook as Ziggy Nixon has become (must… chat… with… FB harem… and… never… use… real… picture… of myself…), be sure and sign up as a fan of his ‘Flying Mouse’ page, too! You’ll be glad you did.

Additional Pictures from the Flying Mouse Gallery

(or Sometimes You Just Can't Make Up Your Damn Mind ... especially when it's this cool!!):

All pictures and other media are used with written permission of Chow Hon Lam, or are available in the public domain (noting copyright and other restrictions, accordingly). No further reproduction or duplication is permitted without contacting the artist directly. Some pictures have been modified slightly only for the purpose of space limitations.

For further details to illustrations, commercially available pieces, and much more, please visit www.flyingmouse365.com