Erin Jhi is an illustrator from South Korea influenced by traditional Korean culture, modern art, religion, and pop culture.
We first met when Erin asked us to produce a sheet of custom stamps for her. We enjoyed working with her colorful, whimsical illustrations so much that we invited her to create an Artist Series sheet with us. Erin says she likes to create art that can make people smile – we smiled a lot while making these. I am even smiling while I type these words!
Have you designed a stamp before?
I have! I created an A–Z movie stamp series, which was such a fun project. It gave me an excuse to watch some classic films I’d never seen before, and it was a fun challenge to pick an iconic scene from each movie that would still be recognizable at stamp size.
What was the most interesting or fun aspect of designing a poster stamp? What unique challenges did it present?
I wanted the stamp sheet to work both as a collectible art print and as something people could actually use to decorate their mail. I also wanted to experiment with a new printing method instead of digital, so I went with letterpress!
The biggest challenge was designing for such a small space while keeping the image legible. Whenever I work digitally, I tend to add way too much detail so a lot of this project was about editing myself down.
Tell us about the art. Did you create something new for this stamp?
The design for this sheet was inspired by tarot cards, specifically the Rider Waite Smith deck. I’m also a huge fan and collector of kewpie dolls so I combined the two elements together. I love fun and whimsy!
Anything else?
I love sending snail mail and collecting stamps, so being part of this Artist Series is such an honor. It was a joy to work on from start to finish.