What Creative Medium Does An Chen Use?

An combines vector illustration in Adobe Illustrator with monoprint-inspired textures developed in Photoshop. This process allows her to build clean, confident forms and then soften them with grain, handmade irregularities and vintage character.

Handmade masks and custom brushes help her digital artwork retain a tactile quality. The result is a balance between precision and imperfection that gives each piece warmth, movement and visual depth.

What Products and Professional Projects Does An Chen Create?

An works across editorial illustration, commercial commissions and self-initiated projects. Her strong visual language adapts well to publications, campaigns, packaging, books and merchandise.

Alongside client work, she develops personal projects that allow her to explore nature, typography, storytelling and print-inspired production methods in greater depth.

How An Chen’s Creative Journey Began

An originally trained and worked in graphic design, building a strong foundation in composition, typography and visual communication.

After earning her MA in Children’s Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art in 2019, she transitioned more fully into illustration. The decision was driven by the joy she found in playing with shapes and exploring how images could carry narrative.

Early projects, including exhibition maps, helped her experience a new kind of creative flow. Rather than arranging information alone, she began using design principles to build atmosphere, personality and story.

This combination of design discipline and illustrative freedom became the foundation of her practice. Today, An’s work continues to move between commercial clarity and playful visual experimentation.

Achievements and Industry Recognition

An’s illustration work has received recognition from respected illustration and design organisations, reflecting the strength of her ideas, technique and distinctive visual style.

Letting Go of Perfection and Building Creative Momentum

One of An’s most important lessons was recognising that waiting for perfection could prevent her from moving forward.

Instead of treating every piece as something that must be flawless before it can be shared, she began embracing iteration. Creating, reviewing and revising allowed her style to develop more naturally.

Her background in graphic design still gives every project structure and thoughtful decision-making, but she now leaves more space for accidents, texture and unexpected results.

Creative momentum often begins when you stop waiting for perfection and allow the work to evolve through making.

What Makes An Chen’s Work Connect with People?

An’s illustrations feel familiar and new at the same time. Viewers may recognise the visual language of old packaging, matchboxes or printed posters, but the compositions remain contemporary and unmistakably her own.

• Clear graphic shapes: bold silhouettes allow the central idea to communicate quickly and confidently.
• Tactile texture: grain and print-like imperfections make digital artwork feel warmer and more human.
• Historical references: mid-century design influences create nostalgia without simply copying the past.
• Strong colour relationships: energetic palettes give each composition rhythm, contrast and visual impact.
• Thoughtful simplicity: An reduces subjects to essential forms while preserving character, movement and meaning.

What Is Next for An Chen?

An plans to expand her visual practice into new formats while continuing to explore the relationship between vintage references and modern storytelling.

• Develop textile patterns based on her geometric shapes and energetic colour palettes.
• Explore merchandise and packaging illustration for creative brands.
• Continue working on children’s books and immersive narrative projects.
• Create more self-published zines, pop-up books and experimental print work.
• Merge Eastern visual traditions with contemporary graphic storytelling.
• Keep developing a style that balances precision, texture and playful imperfection.

Turning Modern Retro Illustration into Artist Merchandise

An’s bold vectors, textured shapes and mid-century influences are especially well suited to products with strong surfaces and clear silhouettes.

Artists working in a similar style can translate their designs into enamel pins, patches, textile patterns, packaging, prints and paper goods while preserving the graphic clarity that makes the artwork effective.

Connect with An Chen

Follow An for new editorial commissions, personal projects, visual experiments and behind-the-scenes insights into her creative process.

An Chen is a Taiwanese illustrator based in London and is represented by Grand Matter Agency in London and New York.