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.

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Sketch / Uptown Girl in Ink + Non Photo Blue

 

Quick little ink drawings from last night. I'm working with a company here in Hong Kong to produce some silk scarves with my illustrations on them! I'm so excited, but working with those huge files on Photoshop to create patterns can be really tedious.

I've been reading Lynda Barry's cartoon class blog for-eva-eva but I never actually get around to doing the exercises, but last night she posted this photo with the instructions "why not take 20 minutes to draw this picture? Start with non-photo blue pencil for five minutes and then take 15-20 minutes to ink it in."

Fun, creative and non-committal! Here's mine.

I also made another drawing with the same technique of Lana Del Rey from her new Rolling Stones cover, Saddest/Baddest Diva. I love how the cat turned out, look at his little eyes. Meow.

I'm selling both of these little paintings. They're originals, each $50USD and 16cm x 21cm. Email me at kitty.n.wong (at) gmail.com if you're interested!

June TMI / This Month I: Got Back to the City

On my very last day in London I spent the afternoon wolfing down scones and chamomile tea at the top floor restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery, it's got one of the best and most interesting views of London, looking towards the Thames behind Trafalgar Square.

Feeling super inspired and creative from my trip in London, I wanted to make sure that I had a fabulous outfit to wear to The Golden Age, Duddell's 1st Anniversary Party. I went to Sham Shui Po, HK's sewing district to find fabric and trimmings and made my own costume, a gold lame qi-pao. I felt like THIS is how a young girl should live, like a F. Scott Fitzgerald adaption of Cinderella staying up into the wee hours to sew my own dress for the ball. Check out the final look here, complete with gold flakes under my eyes. Gold Dust Woman!

 Sketches from the Xu Bing exhibition at Asia Society, read the full blog post here.

"I will not just be a tourist in the world of images" - Anais Nin. Practicing hand-lettering which is always fun and easy.

Organizing my London-trip sketchbook, a pressed daisy, the flowers were ubiquitous on the sidewalks and in the parks all over the city. An art nouveau sticker from my favourite fast-food joint LEON's, and a ticket stub from Chatsworth House.

 Working slowly (but not even all that surely) on my London zine.

Spent an accidental afternoon at the beach, that's one of my favourite things about this cosmopolitan city, as cramped as the highrises are you are never too far from nature. This is Repluse Bay, a 20 minute bus ride from Central.

Just some loose sketches, since being back, maybe because it's the humid summer but I've had a hard time finding my daily rhythm and routine again. Doing little drawings without any purpose in mind always helps me feel better.

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Live Drawing / TST + My First Video!

A few weeks ago in an effort to challenge myself I decided to set myself up in, Tsim Sha Tsui, a super busy part of Hong Kong near the harbour and try doing live portraits on the streets for the first time. It was terrifying but also really rewarding and fun.

Doing street portraits is something I've always wanted to try, but was terrified of. I had discussed the idea quietly to a few of my close friends and even mentioned it to my mom. They all thought it was a great idea and encouraged me to go for it. But I still wasn't sure. Wouldn't it be weird? No one invited me to do it? Can I really just set up on the street? What if I invite everyone to come and then I get kicked out or questioned by the police?
 

I've always been really into this idea of artists that took advantage of whatever small circumstances around them at the time and used it to bring their work out on to the street and use it as a chance to continually work on their craft. For example, I love the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat who as a young man sold painted t-shirts and postcards on the streets of Manhattan in order to make money. 

I wanted to do something like that!

Why not take advantage of Hong Kong's lack of busking regulations, I've seen lots of young people setting up in Mong Kok either doing caricatures or playing music. Why shouldn't I do it? While I'm still young and living in the city.

The older I get the more I realize that opportunity is not something that is given, you have to take it.

"Many people have the perception that you have to be granted power, when in reality, you just have to claim it. Power isn’t limited to the possession or command over others. Power is the currency of making $%!^ happen." -- Denna Varshavskaya

So I mustered up my courage and made a Facebook event to let my friends know and posted to my Instagram to tell my followers what I would be up to. I knew I would feel so much more comfortable if even a handful of my friends were around.

My friend Jessica and three super stylish girls who are studying at SCAD, they had seen my invite on Instagram and came out to support! Thanks so much girls for stopping by, you are all so wonderful.

As the night progressed, the more portraits I did, the more confident I became and it was evident (at least to me) that I was getting better. Throughout the day lots of beautiful stylish friends stopped by, including blogger Sybil Kot, aka The Style Voyager. Can you spot her? Hint: look for the signature hair flip!

Polaroids from street photographer Dicky Lai.

And without further ado, the video! Check it out for all the action that day as filmed by the super talented Josh Tam at Josh Takes Photos. He did a beautiful job of capturing the energy of the day. We started at 3pm and as the sun set and evening came around the pier was buzzing with lots of pedestrians and a handful of young local street musicians. It felt great to be sketching in that environment and to be a part of a group who were bring more art and creativity to the streets and people of Hong Kong, however transient.

 

The video and screenshots were all filmed by Josh Tam of Josh Takes Photos, get in touch with him here.

And some more link karma! Ann from Kremb de la Kremb stopped by to get a livesketch that day and wrote a really sweet post with lots of great photos, go check it out on her blog.

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