I ♡ Brown Lipsticks

Hello guys from New York City!
I'm here again this summer in one of my favourite cities in the world, I love being here in during the summer months so much. This year, I'm taking two continuing education classes at The School of Visual Arts, Intro to Animation - where I made this little gif, it was my first time working on a Cintiq!

Since being in the States I've been having so much fun playing with the makeup looks that are trendy here, hellooooo nude, brown and mauve liquid matte lipsticks and super defined brown eyeshadows. I've been obsessed with watching makeup videos while I've been here, so this little gif is an ode to all those Youtube gurus and to those much coveted Kylie Lip Kits. True Brown K?

On the other days, I'm also taking an etching class, I love the hands on aspect of print-making so much and wished I got to do it more in Hong Kong.

With all these different art activities, museum hopping and picnicking by the Hudson river on the weekends I really feel I like I'm at summer camp. It's been so nice to relax here and experiment creatively after a busy year. I'm so so happy.

Hope you guys are having a great summer too! Don't forget to take some time off for yourself and learn something new.

Keep up to date with me during my NYC summer on my Instagram @kittynwong.

Paintings / Pink Lady

Pink Lady, 2015.
Gouache and pencil on paper.
55 cm x 39 cm.

One of the super awesome things I've been enjoying about New York is the endless live figure drawings sessions that are happening all the time in the city. Last night we had one at the School of Visual Arts and I'm so happy I went (Sorry homework!).

It was my first time doing a really long pose, when they announced the next pose was going to be two hours I initially thought "What am I going to do for two hours???" but I ran upstairs to my desk and grabbed my gouache palette and I was so happy with this piece which I finished during the two hour session.

Check out the WIP shot on my Instagram.

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.

Illustration / Hillary Clinton for President!

So excited to hear MAH GURL Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2016! So excited in fact I had to stay up past my bedtime to make this illustration to celebrate, I've been dreaming of a female president since I was a little girl. Maybe next year this little girl's dream will finally come true.

Streetstyle and Snapshots From Art Basel 2015

 A cool attendee dressed down in pink sequins with cuffed jeans and spiky sneakers.

Ok! Art Basel is probably the funnest month here in Hong Kong, there are a gazillion events everywhere in the city and hot graffiti artists for you to swipe and meet on Tinder, not to mention the show itself. Here are the streetstyle illustrations and photos spotted from my day there.  

I drew a boy! Even though my Twitter bio says I don't know how to draw boys. The stylish visitor was wearing a Topman peacock tee-shirt against a giant swirling Sterling Ruby canvas at Gagosian - and you know I can't resist a good pattern or two.

Tracey Emin at Lehmann Maupin.

Click through for some [IMG HEAVY] coverage from the show this year.

Painting / Botanist

The Unhappy Botanist, 2015.
Gouache, acrylic, pencil and paper collage.
39cm x 54cm

I always paint ladies but I'm really into the idea of painting some feminine fellas these days. I like how this portrait turned out a little bit androgynous. I was also inspired by this photo and from the anthurium flowers I took home after attending 'poon choi', a traditional Chinese New Year eating feast, at my friend's home village. Those flowers with their phallic baby corn stems always reminds me of Japanese minimalism in the 80's - my mom had all those flower arranging books in our basement.

And now let us zoom up and in enjoy his chic and high as a kite expression for a second (that fitting description thanks to DK!).

And as always, make sure you subscribe, and if you loved this post please help me share it by clicking the social media buttons below!

Recent Work / Chow Sang Sang - Part I

A few months ago I got to work on a super exciting project for Chow Sang Sang, a huge jewelry company here in Hong Kong. They asked me to illustrate the invitation for their 80th Anniversary Event.

The marketing manager for the company had seen my work through a mutual contact's social media and reached out to me. Yay, finally my hours of aimless internetting are paying off - MOMMMMMM!

The idea was to showcase their new line by using an illustrated model and photos of the real jewelry. This would also give the client more flexibility if they wanted to change up the pieces to be featured. 

Here are the initial pencil roughs for the project, I really liked the last sketch with the gemstone background, but the client ended up going with Sketch A with a more mature vibe that's more in line with their market and with a more versatile single colour background.

And good thing as the event ended up having to be reorganized - as the original event was centered around a yellow diamond that was being flown in especially for the event but due to traffic restrictions from Occupy Central (solidarity!) the date and theme had to be changed. So pretty white pearls it was instead.

Close up of the hand-drawn logo I did for the event illustration. I love hand drawing logos and lettering for illustrations that I make, it's a small detail that really unifies the image - plus picking fonts is literally the bane of my existence.

This was such an amazing project to work on, thanks so much to Chow Sang Sang and their amazing team for their support! And I hope their guest really enjoyed opening up this lovely piece of mail with my illustrated girl in it.

Stay tuned for Part II of my collaboration with Chow Sang Sang! That blog post is coming up next week.

And as always, make sure you subscribe, and if you loved this post please help me share it by clicking the social media buttons below!

Sketches / Prada Baby

Prada Baby, 2015.

First day back at the desk, an one afternoon sketch to help me get back into the swing of things. Inspired by the Sasha Pivovarova for Prada ad. I'm just such a fan of drawing shoes and little animals.

Off to make dinner now, sooo hungry!

2014 in Review

2014 in review.

1. Marilyn
2. Tod's / For Bagaholic Boy.
3. The Beermaid / For Hong Kong Tatler.
4. Vincent Van Girl
5. Fashion Week / For Lane Crawford.
6. Robert Mapplethorpe / Sketched on my London trip at the Tate Modern.
7. R.S.V.P. / For Hong Kong Tatler.
8. Go Places / Make Things
9. Nicole / For NIC416.com. Logo design for a friend's upcoming new website.
10. 5 Days in Tokyo / Shop the sticker + postcard set on Etsy.
11. Live sketches for Everybody Labo / The Hong Kong based skincare brand asked me to personalize the product labels for their media guests at their re-launch event with some live portraits. Check out some photos of the day here, and the bottles here and here.
12. Pradasphere / Shop the prints on Etsy.

Ahhhhhhh. Hi! My name is Kitty and I'm a 27 year old who can't understand the concept of time.
In my head in no way can it be 2015, that feels way too far into the future I remember exactly how January 2014 felt and it for sure doesn't feel like 365 days ago. "Where did this year go?" doesn't even begin to describe my sense of time diaspora.

So, for some concrete proof that I didn't spend all year looking at Instagrams of dogs in bed it's fun to look back on all the work I made this year. Did I get better? I definitely painted less and started to rely more on the quick ballpoint pen sketches which I then coloured digitally. I guess that's what style is, just something you end up doing out of habit. You do it more and more and become more confident at it and it's a positive feedback loop. 

Maybe it's because I did more traveling this year (yay!) but I remember each month so clearly, which is a nice feeling because usually when I look back on the year it's all one giant blur. Having something special to look forward to and remember every few months really gives a nice sense of division to the year.

The only thing I really regret is not having made one single Intro to Fashion History comic all year, it's a project I kept meaning to do but it's so easy to put off personal projects, especially if they take a bit of planning and researching. I'm definitely going to have to change that in 2015.

How was your 2014? Did it zoom by for you as well? Are you also a refugee of 2014 floating across the oceans of time waiting for the right to land in the land of opportunity of 2015? I wanna hear all about it!

Sketches / Pradasphere

Did you know Lorde was in town? Playing a secret concert for the opening of Prada's new exhibition Pradasphere in Hong Kong? No? Me either, but don't worry us plebes still got the chance to check out the fabulous exhibition housed in a temporary but glorious structure on top of Pier 4 in Central.

You've never seen the Lamma Island pier look so glamourous, the whole building got a Prada makeover with 'Yue Shue Wan' proclaimed in white letters on a sleek black background. And when you step inside onto the lush black and green checkered carpeting you are transformed into Miuccia's world and the brand's history starting from the 1970's onwards.

If it's one thing I love it's visiting fashion exhibitions.
Here's a few of the sketches I made at the exhibition, I love doing quick sketches while looking at the real thing it makes all the difference in making drawings with a lively immediate quality. After I got home I added a thin wash of colour in gouache and watercolour.

All these Prada shoe prints are available for sale on my Etsy shop, I'm also selling the set of original little sketches too, email me if you want to cop those.

Click through for the [IMG HEAVY] post with all the delicious photos from Pradaphere, warning-- you'll want to buy all the things.

5 Days in Tokyo / Sticker + Postcard Set

One of my new years resolutions for 2014 was to make a zine and distribute it, but every time I came home from a trip I would begin to paint and make sketches for a zine but I could never finish it. It starts getting tedious and arranging the pages seem really confusing to me.

But! I finally found a solution! Instead of a zine, I made this illustrated postcard about my spontaneous trip to Japan in September: '5 Days in Tokyo'. It's short and sweet but still tells the story about what I ate, what I saw and what (or who, hahahaha!) I did.

Like everyone else I like to talk forever about myself and my travels but this condensed format doesn't really let me do that. Just little symbols and a sentence or two to explain each one.

I also made 8 piece stickers out of the little illustrated objects, portable talisman I can stick anywhere to remind me of the good times I had on the trip. A seashell collected from Kamakura beach, an Iphone for OkCupid/Tinder holiday flings, both fatty + lean tuna sushi from Tsukiji Fish Market, a sweet potato with soulful little eyes, a cool Tokyoite girl spotted at Omotesando shopping district and lastly the airplane window view of the perfectly manicured Japanese farmland.

I hope that people will look at the objects in the set and wonder what kind of story I'm trying to tell, like a puzzle you can decorate things with.

I'm gonna be making these postcards for all my trips now, next stop: 5 Days in Chaing Mai for Christmas! Helllloo elephants and delicious Thai food!

Buy the '5 Days in Tokyo' sticker set from my Etsy shop themarrow and get the free matching postcard! They'll perfect stocking stuffers for your kawaii wanderlusting pals. Gotta stick 'em all!

Sketchbook / Is The Living Body the Last Thing Left Alive?

Maybe it's the eternal student instinct in me but I love attending lectures, they're usually super interesting, a good opportunity for me to pretend to be a very serious scholar/artist, and if nothing else they present some nice downtime to make some doodles and people watch.

And that's exactly what I did at the Para Site Conference for their "Is the Living Body the Last Thing Left Alive? The New Performance Turn, its Histories and its Institutions" series a few months ago.

Kitty N. Wong, 2014.
Is The Living Body the Last Thing Left Alive? Ballpoint pen on paper.
30 cm x 21 cm.

Live Drawing / Marks & Spencer

Last month I got a super exciting chance to create an original illustration for Marks & Spencer! I love M&S, when I was in England this summer I stocked up on so many pairs black tights and comfy-cute bras. Plus they're so nice there, whenever I stop by the stores here in Hong Kong they always call me ma'am, I into that.

Located in Lanson Hotel in Causeway Bay, M&S hosted the press event to present their A/W 2014 collection and to celebrate their first time presenting at London Fashion Week. This was the first time I've ever been outfitted by a brand for their event, it was so much fun to pick out an outfit with the M&S team, after many maybe outfits I finally chose a body hugging mid-calf Per Una dress in a red and black geometric print paired with gold and silver accessories. I love how the dress is super comfy (girrrl, I gotta werk!) has a qi-pao vibe because of the length but it's still super modern because of the print and stretch knit fabric.

READ ON to see more photos of the event and my live illustrations.

Recent Work / Tod's x BagaholicBoy Goes to Milan

A few months ago Bagaholic Boy asked me to create a few illustrations for him to celebrate his upcomping trip to attend the Tod's runway show in Milan. Such a fun job, although I've never been to Italy before (I did work in an Italian restaurant during university, ciao Giovanna!) I have eaten a lot of pasta. I did some research and went on a little sightseeing tour of Milan on the interwebs and found the landmarks that were most representative of the city. I finally settled on the Arc of Peace, the Arco della Pac at "Porta Sempione".

I almost never draw architeture so this was a fun challenge, notice the bronze goddess at the top riding in her chariot with the little D-Cube Micro Bowler in the crook of her arm. They seeeeeee her rollin' they hatin' (even in Ancient Greece Chamillionaire is relevant).

Tod's D-Cube Shopping Bags

Tod's D-Cube Micro Bowler

Recent Work / RSVP

My newest illustration for Hong Kong Tatler: "Is the RSVP a Dying Art?". Drawn in ballpoint pen and coloured digitally. I just have a total soft spot for the colour pink right now, especially a cool and crisp shade like this one.

Read the article here. As always thanks to the editor Charmaine!

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!
 

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!

Painting / Inky Beauties on Cheap Paper

Beauty #1, #2, #3, 2014.
Gouache on paper.
30 cm x 21 cm.

Experimenting with a liner brush on cheap cheap paper the other night. Sometimes I go to events and I end up coming home with a huge stack of press releases, that stresses me out because I'm always trying to be as environmentally friendly as I can. The other night I was practicing brush lettering on my back side of the old press releases (reuse! reduce! recycle!) and saw this gorgeous photo of Natalia Vodianova in fur and felt an irresistible urge to paint her pretty face.

But then I was like no it wouldn't look good, not with just a paintbrush and some ink. It's not going to look good! But what's the harm? I've got all this paper. I did one, it was terrible so I made another one, and another and another. Here are three of my favourites from my stack that evening.

Beauty #1 is available as a print or iPhone, Samsung phone case on my Society6 Shop now! You buy one and look so chic while you chat on your phone with all your friends because you're so popular!

Painting / Pick Up Stix

Pick Up Stix, 2014.
Gouache and pencil on paper.
25 cm x 18 cm.

The events of last evening night unfolded exactly like the plotline of How Stella Got Her Groove Back, but by that I mean if painting was my Taye Diggs and my desk was Jamaica, sadly. I've been in a work funk ever since I got back form my holiday in England. As a freelancer it's easy to slide off the rails with no boss, co-workers and regular office hours to keep you in check.

Before I left I had my routine down pat, with a to-do list with time slots written out each night before I went to bed (it really helps!). But since I've been back I've been finding it almost impossible to get back on track and into painting regularly again.

I've been slowly working on my London zine, but haven't been feeling super inspired. Thankfully there's Pinterest, I was scrolling through it last night and came across an image I really like from Zimmerman's Resort 2015 lookbook and used it as a starting point for this new painting.

Metamorphosis / Xu Bing at Asia Society

Before I left for my holiday in England I was lucky enough to be invited to preview 'It Begins with Metamorphosis' by the acclaimed Chinese artist Xu Bing at Asia Society. Acclaimed usually sounds like some frou-frou word which you use to describe someone who you know nothing about except that they're really famous. But in his case, Xu was rewarded the MacArthur Fellowship in 1999 (yes, the 'Genius Grant'!), so you know he's legit (bow down).

As you walk into the exhibition you are greeted by a large vase of mulberry cuttings, upon closer inspection you see that the stems are covered in small white silkworms feeding on the green leaves. As the show continues, the worms continue to devour the leaves leaving behind nothing but brown stems and the cocoons of the themselves entwined in silk.

I had never been to Asia Society until I went to see the Caravaggio exhibition a few months before, I had only seen pictures and it seemed like a magical secret place hidden amongst the trees high up in Admiralty with an illuminated walkway and peaceful Buddha sculptures. It didn't seem like a real place you could go to in Hong Kong, but alas love is a place and spring was in the air.

CLICK THROUGH to see more photos, sketches and what I wore from my luscious day at Xu Bing's 'It Begins with Metamorphosis' at Asia Society.