CLASSIC KICKS MAGAZINE VOLUME 1 | Page 66

Stanley Chow Interview
a season ticket holder , so I go every weekend .
When did you start incorporating footballers into your work ?
© Stanley Chow
For the first ten years of my career , I was an illustrator . I was just doing stuff that I thought people wanted . I never really did stuff that I wanted to do . I reached a turning point around ten years ago , when I hit 30 years old , where I knew I wanted to start doing the stuff that I want to do . With football being such a massive part of my interest , I started illustrating footballers .
What was your connection to sports as a kid ?
Being Chinese and growing up in the U . K ., you just don ’ t see Chinese guys involved in sports . I played sports to prove myself and to show that I could be a “ Westerner ,” because we are kind of seen as a lessor minority to a certain degree . My first sporting hero was Dave Thompson . He was a decathlete who won gold in the 1984 Olympics . After that , he became my ultimate idol . For one , he was black , which was important because … it sounds ridiculous , but there were really no ethnic minority role models for me . He made me want to become an athlete . I ended up being the captain of my track team .
I ’ m also a big Manchester United fan . My parents used to work in restaurants and takeaways , and all the Man United players used to come in there . So , I used to see the players , not on TV , but literally in my dad ’ s takeaway , buying fast food and coming back on a regular basis . My dad had signed soccer jerseys from George Best , Bobby Shelton , and Dennis Law ; these heroes from the sixties . We lived in the town where all the footballers lived . Now I live around the corner from their stadium and [ I am ]
When I started doing soccer players , it was to stay sane , really . I was tired of doing bland lifestyle illustrations of people eating a nice meal at a restaurant . Ultimately , I knew I wanted to do my own stuff , but I wasn ’ t even sure what my own stuff was . I just knew that I liked drawing faces and portraits . Then I realized the popularity I was garnering from doing soccer players , or musicians , or film stars , or pop-culture icons . I had no idea they would become so popular in terms of people wanting them as prints , and then art directors actually hiring me .
I was putting the work on Tumblr and MySpace . I was making some money as a DJ as well , so I
© Stanley Chow
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