stephanie mikamo photography.: December 2012

I met Hilda when I was a freshman in college. I've always admired her eye for practically everything in the arts: photography, crafts, graphic design, and video. Hilda volunteered to be interviewed and photographed for my project, and I'm so glad she did!

We had coffee and talked at Casa De Luna Coffee House in Downtown Bellflower. I've never walked around Downtown Bellflower before, so it was cool to explore!

"Not what I do, but who I am"

{Hilda Tam. 23. Graphic Designer. UCI 2011 Graduate.}
Website. Tumblr.

How about you tell me a little bit about yourself.

H: Well, my name is Hilda Tam. I am a recent graduate and I am an artist, I guess. I do mostly graphic design, but am interested in a lot of art-related things, like illustration. I’m interested in photography, but I wouldn't call myself a photographer. I like doing crafts like making costumes, or whatever it is in my hands. I guess I would say I’m an artist all around, like in music, too.

Would you describe yourself as an artist?

H: Yeah, I’d say so. I think because most of the things I’m interested in are art-related, or more on the creative side. When people would ask me, “What would you do if you weren’t into graphic design, or drawing?” then my second answer would be, "I’d be interested in performing, doing comedy, or acting, or maybe I’d be a musician," or something like that. My next answer to not being a graphic designer or illustrator would automatically go into something else that’s creative.

What got you into art? Or, you said graphic design is your...

H: It’s like my go-to thing. The most prolific thing I do is probably graphic design. I've always been interested in art ever since I was a kid. I think I still have pages and piles of drawings I used to do when I was a kid. They would all be the marker/crayon drawings, but I remember bringing around paper whenever I went someplace, and I would always have something to draw. Or one of those etch-a-sketch magnetic boards, I used to have one of those, and it’d be really easy just to erase my drawing, and do another one and keep on doing that throughout the day.

I’ve always been interested in art, but I guess I got more into graphic design around high school. I had a friend that was making things for her Xanga, and I thought, “Wow, that’s cool! I want to learn how to do that, too!” so I tried doing it, and started looking things up. I guess that’s just how it got started, and I did it more in college when people would ask me to make things for them. The more I did things, the more people would know, then people would ask me, and that’s really how I got started.

Would you say that all your other artistic interests sprouted off from that? You just had other interests in making costumes, photography, and other things?

H: I wouldn't say it came off from doing graphics because I think I had interest in those things before, but I just never really pursued them until maybe high school or college. Probably because of funds, or not having equipment. I’d be interested in photography, but I wouldn't have a nice camera. Or I’d be interested in making costumes, but I wouldn't have a sewing machine at the time, so things I made were small hand-made things, or hand sewing things. As I got older, then those things became more available, and that’s how I started getting into them more.

Do you feel ever since you got a sewing machine and a camera, you've been able to make more stuff, or your creativity has been able to go off?

H: Yeah, I think so. Now that there are things available to me, I feel like when I want to do something, I don’t have to sit around and wonder how I’m going to do it or how do I have the means to do it. I feel like I do have the means, but it’s more of my own personal desire to want to do something. Like doing side projects to keep myself motivated and inspired. Now it’s something I have to push myself to do. I enjoy doing it, it’s not always easy of course, we have periods of time where we're like, “Ugh, I don’t feel like doing anything,” but then once you get started on a project, it’s really hard to stop. You want to see it finished, and you’re in the zone. I think that’s the most exciting part; being in the zone and being so excited to have it be finished and to see it come into fruition.

Are there any projects you’re working on now, and what are one or a few of the projects you’re most proud of? Or that have made you really happy?

H: I’m actually trying to redesign my website and get business cards going. I think the one thing I’m currently working on are a few logos for my friend’s food blog. I’m trying to create something for her to put on her website so she can start her own branding. I’m trying to do my own branding thing, too. I always have a lot of ideas that are in my head or on a piece of paper, but for some reason I just don’t end up doing them until I feel like I have to do it and then the list starts getting really long and I tell myself, “Okay, these are just things on a list. When are they going to be actual projects?”

When does that happen for you? When you have such a long list, but when does it actually happen?

H: Usually I try to keep myself motivated when I follow a lot of artists on Tumblr. Or I try to keep up with a lot of artists’ websites to see what kind of updates they have. I admire the way that other artists can keep themselves so motivated. I feel like that’s a difficult thing when you don’t necessarily have anything to keep you from doing it, or keep you going besides yourself. Especially if you’re doing a job that’s totally unrelated to what you’re interested in, but you kind of do it on the side, it’s really up to you to keep it going. When I look at what other artists do, or I follow things on Tumblr that I’m interested in, that’s the kind of thing that helps me turn an idea into an actual project. You see something, and you think, “Man, I want to do that, too,” or, “Wow, that’s really cool! I can do something just like that.”

I guess that branches into what I actually have ideas for. I could tell you I have business cards ideas. I have Christmas card ideas, too. Especially since it’s the holidays, and I want to put them on paper so I could actually use them for something. I have ideas for making clothes. I have a lot of old t-shirts that I’ve kind of been saving up that I don’t really wear anymore. One of the ideas I have not done anything with is making a t-shirt quilt. Like, cutting out the design of the t-shirts, and having squares of t-shirts and making it into a quilt rather than just throwing them away or donating them. Y’know we have a lot of t-shirts that mean a lot to us and you’re like, “I have 50 t-shirts, but I don’t know what to do with them and they still have so much meaning to me.”