Chad Fischer
Chad Fischer
Illustrator / Graphic Designer / Artist
Sangenjaya, Tokyo, Japan
www.foniksbumps.com
instagram @foniksbumps
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“For those who didn’t go to art school: I do quirky, fun, hand-drawn illustrations and graphic design. ”
For those that did go to art school (or understand their penchants for words): I utilize pencils/pens/computers/color and a keen intuition to translate experiences living abroad, deep sub-cultural knowledge/appreciation, multi-disciplinary fine art skills, hand-typography skills, cross-cultural human interaction, micro/macro life observations, and random inspiration into engaging, unique, & colorful illustrations. Event posters, album artwork/design, apparel, magazine editorials as well as personal art projects are my main areas of focus. Additionally, I creative direct the majority of my work, relish in idea generation, and believe that art is less about waiting for the spark of inspiration and more about making a consistent fire, even if the blaze varies day to day.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
Well, after graduating from university, I did lots of projects with clients, friends, and referrals, but not all of those projects were near and dear to my heart. There was a fair amount of honing style, color preferences, communication skills, project choice, and general creative direction. Since moving to Tokyo (after a stint in Saigon), I’ve become more honest and confident about who I am, my abilities, and my worth. I’ve also been much more regular with making my own projects outside of client work. In many ways the challenges of living in foreign countries have led me to take my experiences and focus inward to further define/develop who I am professionally, creatively & personally. I’ve had to revise how I communicate with people after living in two distinctly different Asian cultures, as well as how I listen to people. Compared with the past, I take a much more active stance in my professional life. It’s been a long road to say the least, and by no means have I reached any sort of apex, but in the cosmic scale of things, the journey so far has been but a blip.
How do you stand out in your field?
In addition to art, I’ve honed skills in DJing, music production, live electronic music performance, cooking, amateur botany, and linguistics. All of these provide me with multiple spheres of influence to draw from, increased ability to understand & interpret a range of perspectives, and a unique personal identity that comes through in my drawing style, color choices, and conceptual ideation process.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
The logo for a small start-up comprised of two impassioned, young Japanese men who are aiming to shift Japan’s identity into a more contemporary, plant-based, eco-conscious direction. I’m pretty excited to work with them as their ideals surrounding food (and it’s production/consumption) align with a lot of things I’ve been marinating on for the last few years.
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
While my style can vary project to project, I always maintain elements of fun, humor, sub-cultural reference, and a desire to try something new. Images are often informed by real life, but more often than not, I change them enough to make them slightly non-sequitur, and in some cases, a bit psychedelic. Whatever the case, I feel my work is representative of a living, breathing person, who you could meet and say ‘pretty solid dude right there.’ My perspective is that illustration and design should be more than imagery and order. There should be something that makes the viewer want to look again, look closer, or look deeper. Or it should elicit some kind of feeling. Another facet that is vital for me is color. While I love working in black and white, I think that color is one of my favorite tools. It’s more than simply adding hue; it’s figuring out the relationships of the colors and how they affect the overall piece, be it in mood, visual hierarchy or concept. Sometimes I utilize natural color schemes, and other times I go with interesting, or even odd, color combinations.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
Making music would be my first choice. It functions as a kind of therapy for me, in addition to being one of my sub-cultural outlets, and there are ideas that I’ve been wanting to develop but illustration and professional development are the priority. If a second choice existed, learning new skills or revising/refining existing ones would also be nice to have more time for. I relish in learning things of interest, especially once I can wrap my head around the learning curve and understand how I can put something to use.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
Business development! While I’ve been fortunate to work on projects that I’m interested in the past few years, I'd like more growth. Building client lists and reaching larger clients is a process that doesn't seem to happen quick enough. Part of the multi-step math problem is 'packaging' myself in the best way possible.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
A personal assistant? Sounds great. I would have them build lists of potential clients who I feel my style could match with as well as a schedule for following up. I would also have them get my work in front of the right audiences to get the juicier berries off the client-berry bush. And finally, while I love cooking for myself and creating with an entirely different palette and mind-state, having someone to handle that for some of my meals would definitely allow me to focus more on work, instead of shifting my flow into the kitchen.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
Ahhhh, the ubiquitous time machine! I would go back to when I moved to LA after university and tell myself that the concept and reasons for making work aren’t as important as simply making work, and doing it as well as you can. At that time, I thought that I wanted to go to grad school for painting but was too focused on how valid my concepts were instead of making work and then analyzing it. Making regular work and sharing it eventually yield returns. I would also tell myself to find proper mentors. I’ve gradually realized that I haven’t ever had a proper mentor that fully understood my particular strengths/weaknesses/potential, and how to harness those into becoming the best version of myself. Lastly, I would stare myself straight in the soul and say ‘Plan, execute, and repeat on the regular, because going with the flow will only get you so far.’
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
I’d want to know how to structure and plan the next 10 years of life as a creative to develop my business into something with both active and passive income, build lasting professional relationships with people that truly value what I do, and ultimately get to the point where there’s no worry about lag time between projects. If they happened to be an expert on blockchain technology, I’d love to know how that could be utilized to make my life easier as well.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
There are several opportunities/projects that are currently on my radar: working with brands that champion creativity (be they established or developing) on any range of projects for print/web/product promotion that utilize illustration and/or hand typography, magazine editorial illustration, album artwork for record labels I like, murals, and apparel. I’m also open to working temp or full-time positions at creative companies so long as it’s not ‘Hey, we love your work, can you make boring garbage?’ I’m fairly open if people are cool, the project is interesting/challenging, and there’s a genuine connection between us. With all that being said, I’m also open to collaboration with other creatives who think we might be able to make something awesome, even if it’s just for art’s sake.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
I’ll write about a project that I did with a DJ from Los Angeles. Said DJ had been a fan of my artwork for several years, and wanted to do a collaborative project, so he reached out with a premise: make mixtape artwork based off of a title/concept, and then a mixtape would be created using the artwork as inspiration. The DJ gave me total creative control, I drafted out thumbnail sketches that explored several different ideas, we discussed our favorites, and then I went to work making the illustrations. Their faith in my abilities and taste made me thrilled to put in the extra work to deliver a finished product (CD artwork / design) that both of us were proud to put our names on. Trust, dialogue, and understanding are very important to me, and I value clients/collaborators who feel the same.
WHAT IS YOUR HOURLY RATE, RETAINER, OR SALARY RANGE?
I prefer to work on a project basis to figure out what will give the client the most value, as time isn't always the indicator of worth. Let's chat about what you're looking for and go from there :)
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
Email or phone calls are great. I’d love to have some insight into who they are, what their project is, why they’re interested in working with me, the scope of the project (including how they plan to use it and/or what they plan to gain from it), whether or not there’s something from my portfolio that speaks to them and their project, and lastly, any questions they have for me. Having some idea of budget would also be great! The more I know about someone and their project/expectations, the easier it is for me to make a connection. If it’s another creative who simply wants to collaborate just to create, then I want to know what’s under the hood, what makes this person tick and what their soul looks like?
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Stay curious. Observe. Listen to music
This member profile was originally published in February 2020.