Croter: Kaohsiung's Passionate Illustrator／捍衛內心真誠的自己─洪添賢Croter
Croter: Kaohsiung's Passionate Illustrator
◎English translation: Hou Ya-ting ◎Photos courtesy of Croter
Well known illustrator Croter jokes that he was not the most talented student in painting class, but he did really enjoy painting when he was at school. Although his first full time design job did not require illustration skills, he still figured out a way to incorporate his designs. Fortunately, with the emergence of internet advertising, demand for illustrations also increased. This created more opportunities for illustrators. Croter appreciates the training he had in meeting versatile demands from clients, which benefited him tremendously in allowing him to apply many different styles of artistic expression. As he began to express his illustrative works more freely, he began to combine several painting styles.
He began thinking about how to greater develop his own unique design style. He then received a relocation subsidy from Kaohsiung City Government and since it was his wife's home town, they decided to move from their home in Taipei to Kaohsiung. This marked the true beginning of his professional career. In Kaohsiung, he would meticulously select clients based on the development of his own style. Croter stresses the importance of illustrators, seizing as many opportunities as possible, in order to demonstrate one's own unique design style, which will hopefully lead to a significant client base. He believes if an illustrator works with clients who highly respect their particular style of design, they will enjoy greater creativity and a more significant collaboration.
In 2008, after relocating to Kaohsiung, Croter held his first exhibition at the Cultural Center. He has also worked with Kaohsiung City Government's Cultural Bureau in order to illustrate the "Stories of Kaohsiung" project. Sometimes he holds workshops in order to pass his knowledge and technique down to the younger generation.
Croter feels living in Kaohsiung is less stressful than living in Taipei. He believes this is crucial in order to focus on and develop his work. Shorter working hours allow for him to get out and explore Kaohsiung. Despite the fact he was raised in Taipei and did all his schooling there, he feels more familiar with Kaohsiung than Taipei. Some of his earliest works were of promoting many of Kaohsiung's attractions. The Cultural Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government requested him to present Kaohsiung's scenery and residents through metaphor, legend and his own illustrative technique. He combined his own bold technique with a focus on the region in order to showcase the city and its history. Kaohsiung is glad to have Croter promoting the city through his animated illustrations.
捍衛內心真誠的自己─洪添賢Croter
◎文／青豆 ◎圖片提供／Croter
談起插畫人生，Croter笑笑，坦率地說：「其實求學的時候，我一直都不是班上最會畫畫的人，我只是很喜歡畫」。初入社會，Croter原從事一般設計，因熱衷畫圖，持續地把插畫加入作品，在網路廣告興起，產生大量插畫需求契機下，逐漸有更多以插畫為主的工作。他提到：「前期客戶要什麼就畫什麼，這也影響到我，後來會有很多種風格，變來變去。」
直到2008年，Croter有機會舉辦自己的第一次插畫展《小鼻子小眼睛的人生》，才開始思考「要怎麼樣才有自己的風格？才會跟別人不一樣」，他決定從台北搬到高雄，因為太太是高雄人，加上高雄有文創設計人才回流駐市計畫補助。到高雄的第一個改變就是開始過濾案子，可以考慮自己想做什麼，所以他選擇了幾個固定風格發展，持續地去做自己喜歡的東西，「你一定要讓你的風格被客戶看到，讓他們因為喜歡你的風格而主動來找你，這樣的合作比較沒有問題，這就好像談戀愛，如果你一直在勉強自己，很難長久。」移居高雄後，首先就獲得了在文化中心辦展的機會，也幫文化局創作關於在地的繪本。把握到資源和機會後，Croter更將自己擁有的知識與經驗、個人的創作技法等，不藏私地分享給年輕一輩，儘量地傳遞出去。
高雄開闊的空間和天氣晴朗，讓台北出生、成長、求學跟就業的Croter，感覺生活上減少許多壓迫感，他認為創作者重要的是能讓自己的心境感到穩定，集中火力做自己想做的事。心境和生活模式變得輕鬆，Croter的工作時間也變短了，有更多時間能出去走走，反而比久居的台北更瞭解高雄，他初期幫文化局繪製的插圖，許多是以地方為題，但不同於以往，僅只是將風景、人情繪製出來，而是把在地傳說和當地特色結合之後擬人化，他自己形容為「比較奇怪的表現方式」，其實是希望能夠吸引到更多喜歡插畫 、漫畫的人想認識高雄，透過這樣的詮釋，讓原本很平面的地名，變得生動而富有故事性，甚至能藉由一幅圖像，更深入到地方的歷史背景，Croter默默地用他最喜歡；也最擅長的插畫，表達著對於這個城市的謝意與愛。