Illustrations / Rowing Blazers

HELLO from NEW YORK CITY!
A place so nice they named it twice. I've been busy busy since I got here about two weeks ago, I'm doing the illustration summer residency course here at the School of Visual Arts, drawing non-stop and exploring this gigantic city. I've got a huge backlog of stuff I want to share with you guys, so much exciting stuff has been happening to me but unfortunately you can only be cool online or offline - not both, you greedy bastard!

My eyeballs are burning while I'm writing - I need to go to bed. Do you guys even care that I write anything? Anyways, here are some pretty pictures and the illustrations from a cool event I got to go to last week it was the launch party of the book Rowing Blazers, it was hosted in the gorgeous and historic National Arts Club and they had two models for the drawing club that usually meets there to draw from - and so I crashed the party! 

 CLICK THROUGH for photos from the event and a peek of the work from the drawing club.

Workshop / Fashionary

Oh my gosh! I'll be teaching my very first fashion illustration workshop this month! I've been busy prepping for it with the awesome guys over at Fashionary, it's one day only and it's gonna be awesome and friendly and so much fun so you should come join us. Read on below to find out how.

The workshop goes on for 2 sessions. From 28th March, 2:00-2:45pm by Kitty N. Wong (Hey, that's me!), 4:00-4:45pm by Vikki Yau, at Pageone Harbour City. Fashionary Illustration Workshop is now available for register at Pageone Harbour City store for FREE with HK$300 purchase (at least one Fashionary product must be included) at Page One Harbour City store.

Each participant will receive a Fashionary giftset with the template paper, pencil and eraser and all the drawings materials will be provided, so get your butt down to Page One to register and just bring your beautiful self on March 28 ready to get drawing!

I'll be showing all my lovely students how to draw this fantastic MSGM multi-coloured fur coat from their FW 2015 collection, the workshop will be really hands-on so you'll all learn how to render fur and draw a beautiful feminine face using gouache watercolour and pencil.

A video posted by fashionary (@fashionary) on Mar 4, 2015 at 7:08am PST

There are still a spots left in both of the sessions so GET YOUR BUTT down to the Page One store in Harbour City TST and register! Hope to see you all there! xx

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10 Minute Fashion Figures

A few loose and fast streetstyle fashion figures I painted in gouache, pencil and charcoal. I made these a couple of months ago to use in a promo to advertise my new live fashion illustration service, then I got super busy and never had a chance to share them with you guys on the blog. So, here they are now!

My favourite is the first one inspired by this photo of Arizona Muse, I love mini-dresses, and especially with her mile long legs in those over the knee boots, muah!

The prints are available on my Etsy shop TheMarrow if you're interested, they make a great set framed for a fashion girl's apartment wall art.

And as always, make sure you subscribe, and if you loved this post please share it with your friends using the social media buttons below!
 

Sketchbook Girls / Blue Moon

When I was little, I had a dream dictionary and I was obsessed with anaylizing my dreams and figuring out the grand meanings behind each one. Then I realized that the symbols in my dreams were nothing more than a reflection from the mundane details I had picked up throughout my day.

Inspiration is a bit like that, you could dissect your inspiration like your dreams. This is a sketchbook entry I did last night before bed. I had been listening to Snowblink's gorgeous rendition of Blue Moon all night and was probably inspired by it to paint the blue orb polka dot background. Earlier that day I had watched the Tate Shot: Lorna Simpson video and was really fascinated by the white paint that the analog photo retouchers used in her collection of vintage photographs. Even though I had mostly forgotten about the video, I subconsciously felt a need to outline the figure like in the photographs.

Just as our brains declutter our minds by dreaming, I like the idea that nightly sketchbooking clears out my mind and gets my subconscious onto paper. It's a kind of meditation. 

Did you guys do any type of meditation? And do you find it makes a difference in your life?

This illustration is available as a print in my Etsy shop, go and have a look, I'm always uploading new things.

#ZigWisdom / Direction Literally Creates Time

Direction Literally Creates Time. #25

It's time for another ZigWisdom collaboration with Brianne Garcia! This one is more vague than our previous, sometimes Brianne chooses the quote and sometimes I choose it. This was her week and I loved what she had to say about it.

"If we approach our lives with the attitude of “time is money”, this could end badly, with us treating life’s precious moments like something we must quantify. However, when it comes to our life’s work,  I do believe we should treat our time like we would our $, and spend it wisely."

Go read the rest of Brianne's super awesome (as always) blog post on this week's ZigWisdom about having singular vision, focus and digging for those uncomfortable pockets of time secretly available to us.

Here's a WIP shot, I was inspired by this picture I found on YMFY.com.

See the rest of the ZigWisdom series here.

Streetstyle Sketch / Stripes in Shibuya

Stripes in Shibuya, 2013.

Pencil, gouache and Photoshop.

Rooftop Drawing Dates

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been updating this week. I'm working on a new illustration project for a wonderful Hong Kong clothing brand that's launching a lingerie line and it's been taking up all my time. But I'm really excited about it and here's a glimpse at one of my rough sketches for it. Stay tuned!

I've been having a bit of a rough week, got called into the hospital on Monday because my bloodtest came back really hypothyroid (I guess the RAI worked after all!) so I had to go in and get my new hypo med to bring my levels back up. And the new meds have been making me feel quite shitty while my body is re-adjusting.

But our new rooftop patio furniture arrived and it's so great! It's so peaceful and feels super luxurious. Every time I'm up there I always try to say out loud to myself "Well if this isn't nice then I don't know what is.".

I've been trying to do some work up there but it's a bit annoying to work outdoors and to lug all my stuff up there so mostly I'm just snacking (on pomelos) and reading my new book Salt: A World History -- I'm on a major non-fiction kick these days.

Sketches from PFW | Chalayan Changes Clothes

Hussein Chalayan F/W 2013. Pencil and gouache on cardboard.

Ah, what a horrible day. I started a small fire in my kitchen this morning. I left my Diva Cup boiling on the stove thinking I would come back to it but then got distracted with an illustration, when I came back all the water was gone and the thing was literally on fire. I was so scared and it left ashes absolutely everywhere in my kitchen. I spent the day wiping everything and it still looks like Industrial Era London in here. 

It kind of ruined my day and I wasn't up for any serious illustrating, so I just did a quick little gouache sketch on cardboard, so commitment free.

There are some really fabulous gifs floating around on the internet of the Chalayan show (apparently it's just Chalayan now, took me forever to find it on Style.com 'cos I kept searching under H). I feel like we really are living in the golden age of the 'gifs' as a medium (see Vine, all of Tumblr and work by illustrator and fellow Ryerson grad Tara Dougans). Except this gif here below nearly gave me a seizure flashing non-stop while I was typing out this post.

Gifs by Errolson Hugh. Photos via Strangeline.

Sketches from MFW | Furs at Marni Fall 2013

Marni in the Forest. Pencil, watercolour and Photoshop.

Experimenting with rendering furs. Not feeling quite so loquacious today, so I'll keep it short.

Sketches from LFW | Driving Miss Kelly to Eudon Choi

Eudon Choi. Pencil, gouache, Photoshop. 

We've been on the run/Driving in the sun
Looking out for number 1/California here we come

I almost can't even listen to that Phantom Planet song anymore, you know when something brings back so many powerfully happy memories it almost makes you sad? Like you'll never be that young or have that much fun again?

Listening to that song reminds me of being 15 and watching the first season of The OC with my best friend and spending a very unsupervised summer in Ontario discovering for the first time what it felt like to be thought of as pretty/popular/bad. And also of the the summer after highschool when my friends and I drove down to California for Coachella where we played this song on repeat and I insisted on eating nothing but powdered donuts the whole way.

Stealing citrus fruits in Indio, California. 2005.
That's me on the left, can you even recognize me?
Polaroid from my friend Crystal. 

Day 3 of Drawing Fashion Week. The headscarves at Eudon Choi reminded me of Grace Kelly driving in cars which then reminded me of road-trips. I drew this girl with only one eye because it just didn't look right with two.

This drawing isn't really my favourite but I still kind of like it. Lately I've been thinking it doesn't really matter, since I've drawing so much it's okay if sometimes things turn out kind of ugly. We're just experimenting here, gotta give yourself room to fail and room to grow.

"Don't worry about genius and don't worry about not being clever. Trust rather to hard work, perseverance, and determination. The best motto for a long march is "Don't grumble. Plug on." You hold your future in your own hands. Never waver in this belief. Don't swagger. The boy who swaggers - like the man who swaggers - has little else that he can do. He is a cheap-Jack crying his own paltry wares. It is the empty tin that rattles most. Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes of manliness. Love the sea, the ringing beach and the open downs. Keep clean, body, and mind."- Sir Frederick Treves

Eudon Choi photos from Style.com

Sketches From NYFW #2 | Thom Browne Rose Garden

Thom Browne. pencil and gouache.
Here's post 2 of Drawing Fashion Week with a look by Thom Browne. And probably subconsciously with some further inspiration from the Empress Dowager. I love this collection and I wanna wear those dresses and be the weirdest girl for miles.

 Runway photos from Style.com

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Sketches from NYFW #1 / How To Be Sick but Creative

NYFW Sketch #1: Geometric Prints at Jeremy Laing 

It's been almost 3 months since I've had radioactive iodine treatment for my overactive thyroid, since then I've been recovering at home and dealing with the anxiety that comes with my hormones going haywire. I'm so thankful to be living in the age of the internet and to other sick people who have reached out to others using vlogs. It's so comforting to know other people are dealing with the same things and feeling the same way. It's hard to talk about your life when everything isn't going perfect.

It's hard to be sick, not just physically but it's also embarrassing in a way. You worry a lot about how other people think of you. Do people think you're lazy? You worry that everyone is going to forget about you because you never go out anymore. And you burn all the pots because you're so absent minded all the time.

Health issues aside, this is a really good time for me to concentrate on drawing and building up my portfolio which at the moment is just a sad jumble of drawings on Behance.

I've been drawing a lot more this past year and some people have noticed - thanks friends! Sketches mostly, what I'm missing are strong portfolio pieces. So I hoping to take these next few weeks to make some more editorial style illustration and experiment with layout and drawing styles, with inspiration from the continuous influx of images coming from fashion weeks happening around the globe.

So here's my first one - Jeremy Laing at NYFW 2013, I used to intern there when I lived in Toronto, it was my dream internship and I learned a lot there.
Here's to hoping and drawing these illustrations get better as the weeks go on.