http://www.drawger.com/victo/ Thu, 02 May 2013 17:19:01 EDT FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/_images/drawger_leo_logo.gif http://www.drawger.com/victo http://www.drawger.com/victo/index.php?section=articles&article_id=14187

Nautilus is a marine organism, Captain Nemo's submarine, as well as an exciting online magazine launched this week, dedicated to science, philosophy AND committed to illustrations! Check out the cool articles and art on their site: http://nautil.us/ The image above is for an article written by Linda Zeldovich. It's about the power of a great book. In this case, how "20,000 leagues under water" has influenced the young minds of its readers and and eventually shaped their career choices. It was a great honor to be part of the preview issue along side with great artists such as Gerard Dubois, John Hendrix, Andrew Zbihlyj, Matt Stevens and Daniel Hertzberg. Big thanks to AD Len Small!  One of the most often asked question from student is "Now that print is dying,  how do you see the future of illustration?" I don't know if print is actually dying but I think Nautilus provides a perfect (and relieving) example on how there will always be a need for good illustration, despite the change of media. Over the past thousands of years, illustrations have been presented on cave walls, parchment, tapestries, fresco, canvas and paper. I don't see why it won't make the transition to digital and interactive platforms.   

]]> Thu, 02 May 2013 21:19:00 EDT http://www.drawger.com/victo/index.php?section=articles&article_id=14173

This illustration is for a very zen Thai fantasy by Thomas Olde Heuvelt on Tor.com You can read the story here. AD is the always fabulous Irene Gallo. Yesterday I had the honor to give a talk at Syracuse University. (Everyone was so nice, I got treated like a Rock Star and am still blushing, but anyways...) After the talk, Professor John Thompson and I striked up a conversation about the first book cover I did for Irene and all the other web story arts we colleberated on. John is a great painter and has illustrated many book covers. He told me, from his experience, covers are tricky because there's often a fight between illustrators/art directors and editors/marketing team.  Art people are always the one who have to give in.  John said he remember when Irene entered the scene and how she was assertive at giving the artists as much creative freedom as possible. Once again, I was reminded how lucky I am.  

]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:35:29 EDT http://www.drawger.com/victo/index.php?section=articles&article_id=14065

Maybe it's spring time, or the lack of it in NY, I have been drawing more flowers and women than usual.  "Love Hunter" runs in today's NYtimes Business section. The story is about modern day Chinese matchmaker, and how much love cost in today's materialistic China. It's a very interesting and depressing article, you can read it here, I highly recommend it! Funny I got this assignment, I had dinner with some remote relatives just a couple weeks ago and got schooled about marriage. They told me I should find a lawyer, doctor or a banker as husband, quit my job and concentrate on being a good wife and mother. I was pretty upset but couldn't speak up against them as they were the elders. I later told my non-lawyer/doctor/banker white illusrtator boyfriend about it and he found the conversation very absurb and hard to believe, so I made him read this NYtimes story.



There were good news and bad news during the creation of this piece. When AD Minh proposed to me the idea of having the hunter looking for the most exotic and beautiful woman-bird, I thought it's brilliant and perfect because it talks about how women are being objectified and their appearance is the only thing that matters.The editor was skeptical about the concept initially, but we got the green light eventually after pushing hard for it. That was the good news. The bad news - this cover image bumped by a photo and became an interior page last min.



This limited edition 28X24” 9 colors + Gold Metallic Silkscreen poster (awesome right?) was done for the new Tomb Raider game launching event. The game is about young Lara Croft being stranded on a cursed Japanese island after a plane crash. The island is the shrine of the Sun Queen, being guarded by her loyal cult followers and the oni (zombie cannabilist samurai army). You can watch the trailer here. This project was super fun as I was given the freedom to interpret the game in how ever ways I want and go nuts with it. Not to mention being able to create a perfect 10colors Silkscreen print without having to go through the registeration nightmare.



Big thanks to AD Marc Scheff and the Treehouse Brand Stores!

]]> Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:51:55 EDT http://www.drawger.com/victo/index.php?section=articles&article_id=14055

My first ever book cover,  VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab, will be published by Tor Books this fall. "This is a book that plays with comic book culture, with the Ideas of the hero and the villain. It takes superpowers and strips away the spandex and the capes, until what's left is gritty and violent and bare. "    I really enjoyed the project, there's nothing better than sitting down and reading a fun story without feeling guilty that I am not drawing or hollering at clients. The long deadline was also a nice change - my style is quite time-consuming and I always find myself finishing a piece on the last min. The adrenaline rush can be exhilarating but has also given me heart burns. With this piece, I was able to finish it, leave it for a few days, come back and do the final tweaks with a pair of fresh eyes.    However, I would be lying if I said there was no pressure. I am definitely one of those who judge a book by its cover. VICIOUS is quite a mesmerizing story and I hope my art has done it justice, or better allure people to pick up a copy! And of course, first time is always intimidating. I have heard many stories about how book covers could be a real pain, especially when marketing team get involved with the creative process. I really appreciate the freedom and power AD Irene Gallo, Editor Miriam Weinberg and Tor books have given me. It's always been a real pleassure working with this team. 





The story is about the rivalry and avengement of Victor and Eli -2 bestfriends-turned archenemies. Their lives interwine in the most extreme way - one person's death is the anothe person's life purpose.  So in this set of sketches, I want to show how the two mirror each other. Irene said even though the story is violent, we can't show too much blood on the cover. 

Trying to be symbolic with this one - a fatal and vicious fight between the 2 evils. 



One of the very powerful moments in the book was when Victor look down at the city of Merit and clashes a glass when he thought of Eli being somewhere nearby. I thought the fragmented glass, blood and city scape could make a violent and interesting image without being narative, but Irene thought they are a tad too enigmatic. 



This is the direction we eventually went with. Irene picked the one of the right as it has more of a Sci-fi comic book feel to it. The editor suggested maybe adding some smoke around Victor to enhance the supernatural vibe. This great suggestion sparked the idea of visualizing Victo's power - the ablity to control pain. I decided to make the city looks like blood vessesls and distort part of it, so the air would look like it's thumping in pain. 





Some of the layout designs by senior designer Peter Lutjen, you can read more on Irene's blog post.



The the end, the team decided to keep the type straightforward and elegant, slightly curved to mimic the city. I am very happy with how the cover turned out, and so is the author. She wrote : "This cover is Vicious. I mean, obviously this cover is for Vicious, but some covers are covers and some covers are books, and this cover is a book. What i mean to say, is that this cover is both a moment from the book, and an embodiment of the book itself." Getting a nod from the author is the bestest. 

]]> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:48:44 EDT http://www.drawger.com/victo/index.php?section=articles&article_id=14017

Sorry this is not news anymore. I didn't want to scribble a quick note and in between parents visiting and work, I just now had time to sit down and write this post. Also I wanted to wait for a while to make sure the Gold medals don't just vanish one morning since they are still quite unreal to this day.  I am extremely grateful for the awards but thought it would be ungrateful to the sweaty and liquor-thirsty crowd at the SOI opening if I kept my speech long, so I wasn't able to fully thank everyone I needed to thank.  Since I can post whatever the f I want on my blog, here is my long long long long thank you note. (It's going to be boring, feel free to skim and skip.)



Thank AD Jim Burke and Dellas Graphics for having me on board, and giving me all the creative freedom with such a fun project  which has also been a good luck charm for medal winning. 



Thank you AD Irene Gallo for your passion and support in illustration. It 's always extra rewarding to work with someone who loves their job -your excitment and anticipation of the final art have pushed me to work harder and aim higer. 

Thank you Society for the Student Scholarship, without it,  I wouldn't have been able to move to NY after graduation. Also thanks for such a welcoming and homely community where lonely illustrators can mingle with each other and harrass the poor ADs who accidentally venture in.  Thank you judges, I hope you didn't make a mistake.  Thank you Johnny D and Kyle S for lending me your fresh eyes and giving me all the insightful( and often very blunt) second opinions. I feel very lucky knowing you guys will always be honest with me.  Thank you Robyn, Catherine C, Dadu, Tae, Mia, Steph S, Hannah, Yue, Naftali, Wesley, Sam T  and Domily for being such awesome and supportive friends.  Thank you Yuko for all your Business advises and helping me with the VISA to stay in the country. (Also your beauty and fashion tips!)  Thank you Chris for being an inspiring and caring teacher, mentor, tiger-mom, friend, dog rescurer and super hero. You not only gave me my career, saved me numerous times from burning contracts and budgets, but also taught me how to be a better human being.  Thank you SooJin for giving me my first published jobs. You told my mom I would have made it without you - all you did was shorten my journey. You were WRONG! If I haven't worked with you during RISD, I wouldn't have the balls to jump off the cliff to freelancing. If I haven't had the early start, I wouldn't have enough credentials for the artist ViSA. If I haven't made money in the early months, I wouldn't been able to convince my family that illustration is a "real job".  Thank you Mom and Dad for coming all the way to NY for the ceremony. Thank you for supporting me through RISD, esp when most people believe you would be better off throwing your money into the ocean. Thank you for putting up with my short temper and strange pricks. Thank you Mom for sacrificing your career to raise me,  always being there for me and trying to give me the best. Sorry I was a difficult kid. Thank you all for reading and the generous words you have made on my past posts. Thank you for the wonderful and inspiring works, you guys keep me on my toes! 



















]]> Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:51:36 EDT http://www.drawger.com/victo/index.php?section=articles&article_id=13969

This full page illustration is for the last New Yorker fiction "Mayfly" by Kevin Canty.  AD Jordan Awan suggested that we could focus the piece on the first paragraph of the story: "Driving across the Utah desert on I‐70, James hit a butterfly with his car. Then another. Then a shower of them, hitting the windshield like hail, wings trapped in the wipers, orange and black. The noise of them, muted but steady, woke Molly from her trance, and she looked out the windshield, at broken wings and yellow smears."   but steady, woke Molly from her trance, and she looked out the windshield, at broken wings and yellow  smears. them, hitting the windshield like hail, wings trapped in the wipers, orange and black. The noise of them, muted  but steady, woke Molly from her trance, and she looked out the windshield, at broken wings and yellow  smears. 



These are the initial sketches I sent in. Sketch 1 and 3 are alright but I was quite exciting about distorting the guy's face (he is sort of a jerk) with dead butterfly juice in sketch 2. Jordan came back and said he wanted a more abstrast approach to the story, maybe a wallpaper of butterflies from edge to edge. 

I have been a bit allergic to the word "wallpaper" - a crit I often received back in my RISD days. To me, it stands for "too flat", "decorative without purpose" and "a list without hiearchy". So when I sent in my revised sketch, I was still timid to go full "edge to edge".  This assignment had a 24 hours turn around. It was 2 pm at this point, although Jordan wants me to push the "pattern-ness" further, he let me go final. 



This was the first final version. Jordan and I were both happy with the colors but wondered if there's something we could do to make the piece even more psychodelic and weird. Lucky for us, this is when the editor decided to run the story a week later!! The idea of distortion and "savage beauty" from sketch 2 revisited me and I proposed to re-do the illustration. 



I started playing around in PS and warping the first final in all slightly different ways. When I came up with a mock-up I finally liked, I went back to the drawing board to redo the lines so the final will not look digitalized. 



I am very happy with how the piece turned out and to realize sometimes the boundaries and rules I set for myself are quite silly.  Neither the piece nor the eureka moment would happen without Jordan pushing me out of my comfort zone. I am really grateful to be working with the best people in the industry!!

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