Artist Interviewed:
Interviewer: on behalf of *freelancers

Short Bio
Stephanie Pui-Mun Law has been painting fantastic otherworlds from early childhood, though her art career did not begin until 1998 when she graduated from a program of Computer Science. After three years of programming for a software company by day and rushing home to paint into the midnight hours, she left the world of typed logic and numbers, for painted worlds of dreams and the fae.

The Art of Stephanie Pui-Mun Law


1. Do you have an artist's rep. or do you hire someone for your business/office duties?

No, I handle it all myself.


2. Do you use the press to assist you? (i.e. press release, advertisements) Any particular publications? Is it a regular schedule?

Nothing outside of my own website Shadowscapes, and various other sites that I post to like DeviantArt, Elfwood, and Epilogue. These serve to reach out to my fan base in a more personal way. I send out monthly updates emails for Shadowscapes to a mailing list of people who have either signed up through my site or from conventions and shows that I attend.


3. Do you feel you have tapped into any unusual markets?

Not particularly, but I think that fantasy is definitely a niche market. Fortunately it is one that is easy to reach through the internet; more so than many other genres.


4. Has licensing or copyright ever been an issue?

Constantly. The downside of the internet is that copyrights are easily violated, and I rely on the watchful eyes of my viewers to keep me updated when they notice incorrect usage or stolen artwork. More often than not though, I find that copyright violations are a result of ignorance of copyright laws rather than willful and malicious intent to harm an artist, and so I do my best to educate people about copyrights!


5. Do you supplement your art with an additional career to support yourself?

Not since 2001. I started out with computer science as my primary career in 1998, and worked with art on the side. It took me three years to work up the courage to take the plunge from the "safe" job into the unknown. Which actually was not that much of an unknown, because during those three years I was gradually transitioning.


6. What are your greatest inspirations as an artist?

The natural world, mythology, folklore, the work of past artists.


7. What main processes do you follow in the production of your work?

I do a lot of sketching whenever the faintest idea comes to me. Later on, these sketches become the inspiration for paintings. Mostly I work with watercolors these days. It can take me anywhere from a couple of hours to days to finish a piece.


8. What would your greatest piece of advice be for aspiring artists?

Persistence and practice! Drawing and painting skill doesn't just come -- it is something that comes of many hours of practicing and learning to see.


9. What is your favorite piece of the work you have done and why?

I'm often asked this, and I don't really have a single answer. My favorite is always something in flux. The goal is to constantly grow as an artist, and so I try to make each new piece I do my best. I don't always succeed with that, but generally it is my recently completed works that are my favorites. I would say that for now, my Tarot series is among my best.


10. What do you do when you are uninspired for art? Or are you always inspired?

There are always ideas that I have not been able to explore yet, and since I try to sketch whenever some idea strikes me, my sketchbook is always a good place to turn to when I have spare time.