You discover how confounding the world is when you try to draw it. You look at a car, and you try to see its car-ness, and you're like an immigrant to your own world. You don't have to travel to encounter weirdness. You wake up to it. Shaun Tan carconfounddiscover share on social
As a younger person, I was obsessed with Ray Bradbury, and I think his stories did more to shape me as a storyteller than anybody else - even though, when I read them now, a lot of them seem overly sentimental. But that's probably the writer that I've thought about the most, even though I don't necessarily like a lot of his work. Shaun Tan bradburyhavelot share on social
It was better to be known as the kid who could draw than as the short kid. Shaun Tan drawkidshort Change image and share on social
Like all of my previous work - which I also hope is a bit hard to categorise - 'The Oopsatoreum' is an illustrated book, so a combination of words and pictures that tell a kind of story. Shaun Tan bitebookcategorise Change image and share on social
Seeing your work in print is exciting, especially when you're young. It's that feeling that you have some effect on the world outside of your immediate neighbourhood. Shaun Tan effectexcitfelt Change image and share on social
Sometimes I write captions on the in-flight magazines and then replace them in the seat pocket. Shaun Tan captionflightmagazine Change image and share on social
I like the idea of contained emotion because I grew up most of my life feeling that way. As an adolescent, people would always say I was not expressive, and they always made the mistake of thinking that I didn't feel anything because I didn't react to things. Shaun Tan adolescentcontainemotion share on social