She speaks Chinese (Both Cantonese and Mandarin), English and Japanese.

She attended Christian schools, but is not Christian. She holds a British National (Overseas) passport but is not truly British. She is a Hong Kong citizen but does not have a Chinese ID card.

Her parents live in Hong Kong; her grandparents are Chinese American living in the west coast of the States; and Victo goes to Rhode Island School of Design on the east coast.

Victo talked about her illustrations and more, below.

I work with both traditional and digital media. The lines are done with nib pens or rapidograph pens. The textures are done on different pieces of paper with various media, like graphite, acrylic, oil pastels. depending on what look I am trying to achieve. Afterwards, everything is digitally composed and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

My source of inspiration is very broad – from natural scenery, to great graphic design, to old and contemporary illustration masters.

I think I indulge in and absorb anything that is beautiful or interesting. If I were to have a preference, I think I am naturally more drawn to decorative and flat imagery because of my oriental art influences growing up.

Those examples would be: Chinese Shan-shui painting and folk art, Japanese wood block prints, Art Deco paintings.

I am currently based in New York, and am working on a project called “1200 Posters”, which is meant to inspire conversation and community.

The project is a collaboration between “Big New Ideas” and RISD students and alumni. I am one of 12 artists who will be working on a series of large silk screen posters that will be produced in limited editions of 100 (100 posters x 12 months = 1200 posters).

Each poster will be inspired by one line of a larger quote from Margaret Wheatley, and the text will be included as a graphic element in the design of the poster.  Our hope is to use the text along with artistic expression to inspire the kind of artistic community the quote discusses.

I am also building my online store for selling limited prints and looking for more editorial illustration work.

© Victo Ngai, 2010

I like the minimal use of colour and the quick strokes of the brush/pen. I picked this guy up on Twitter after he commented on one of my tweets. Nice work!

© Ramon Rodriguez, 2010

I was fortunate enough to meet Daisuke and Hiro, the people behind the designs at their studio in Hiroshima in March of 2010. Meeting them and seeing their work was one of the most memorable experiences of traveling to Japan. These guys seem to be the world’s hardest working illustrators!

Hiro and Daisuke show us their work process from start to finish of a New York Times Magazine brief below.

New York Times Magazine Cover

‘We meet clients in a variety of ways: face to face, phone, Skype and email. The process is often slow at first. I draw many small sketches that will eventually make up the larger illustration.’

‘After this we’ll do a rough sketch in a lower resolution. Once this is done, we draw a more complex line in higher-resolution.’

‘We refer to various documents and images of things like buildings and cars. Knowing the details is very important to the illustration work we do.’

‘For big illustrations, the work will take between 30-60 days. Usually about a week before finishing, we will continue drawing and working for 18-20 hours per day.’

© IC4DESIGN, 2010

Thank you Daisuke, Hiro and the team at IC4DESIGN!

Sola was kind enough to respond to some questions in great detail, so I will cut to the chase and show you the interview, which explains his background and how he does the art as well as light art’s place in the art world.

How did you stumble into light paintings?

I did the whole art school thing and loved every second but the realities of life meant that I started working as a commercial / editorial photographer. Ater a few years I started to fall out of love with it so decided to try and put some spark back by working on personal projects.

I’d started shooting some inner city landscapes at night and something was ‘missing’ so I started to illuminate the scene with flash and other light sources. One day, quite by accident one of the lights was caught in the shot and well, the rest is history as I was once again in charge of the whole image making process.

How do you create the light art?

The basic technique is no real secret; you take a photograph, in my case using a Canon EOS 5, with a long exposure and move a light source in front of the camera – the camera records wherever the light goes.

I have a huge range of light sources that I use to create different effects and textures so depending on what I have in mind I’ll take the relevant lights and head off to one of the many locations I have stored away in a mental list.

As a rule I tend to shoot late at night as the streets are empty and I can relax and get into what I’m doing, which is really important as I like to be spontaneous and reactive to the environment.

I’m also trying to show these spaces in a new light so to speak so the quieter these ordinarily busy streets are, the better.

Once I’m at a location I get absorbed and often whatever plans for a shot I may have had go out of the window, it’s almost as though the location dictates what should be created.

Once I’ve shot the image I have a very strict rule that I never use any Photoshop trickery with my work, so what you see is what I shoot.

Also, if I’m ever caught in a shot then it won’t go out, for me part of the magic is seeing these beautiful ethereal sculptures that appear to be living and breathing in these, some would say, dead spaces.

My studio work is no exception to the above but it allows me complete control all of the creative process. When I’m working in the studio I get completely absorbed and will often shoot right through the night.

What do you think light graffiti/painting significance is in the art world, and is it becoming more popular?

In many ways, light art is taking photography back to its beginnings in alchemy and experimentation.

It’s all about an exploration of the affects of light on the photographic image.

As with any medium there’s work which does and doesn’t have a place in the art world. I personally am conscious that my work needs to hold many elements such as concept, aesthetic and narrative that inject artistic merit and therefore have a justified artistic offering.

Although there are many people making light art I am one of an extremely small group approaching this from an artistic point of view.

This contemporary work is very new and sure, the art world (as establishment) needs to catch up to this but there again, the art world is changing, becoming more accessible and boundaries are dissolving.

These days the public become the critic via their blogs, via their mouse click and by choosing real artists as apposed to super market ‘art’ to adorn their walls. It’s a really interesting time.

© Sola, 2010

What are you working on right now?

At the moment I have a few personal projects underway; I’m working on a short film / animation of my light art, which is coming together slowly but I’m determined to get it completed by Autumn.

I’m also working on a couple of projects which are merging my studio practice with my street work. Through this I’m exploring the rural environment and so far so good!

I’m also working with a couture clothing company from Germany on a range of fabric prints which will form part of a collection this Autumn. It’s going to be a great project, although it’s a shame I wont be able to wear the end result as I don’t look too hot in a dress!

See more of Sola’s work and buy prints at his site: lightbombing.com.

I got involved, and was very pleased to have a drawing done by her centred on the Ape on the Moon theme. She did a great job and put in much more work than I’d hoped. The drawing is below, as well as some samples of the rest of her excellent work. This may be the start of a series of Ape on the Moon illustrations sent in by illustrators, so get in touch if you want to contribute an original Ape on the Moon illustration.

Get yourself an original drawing directly from Sandra, by donating here!

© Sandra Dieckmann, 2010

Where are you based?

In a great warehouse studio in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. I think it was used to produce uniforms during WWII. I share the space with 4 other awesome illustrators (Nigel Buchanan, Jim Tsinganos, Stuart McLachlan and Lew Keilar) as well as 4 other creatives.

It’s a space where we can get instant inspiration, advice (and criticism), share contacts and hand on jobs to each other.

What’s your work process and the tools you use, especially how do you achieve your grungy/scratchy effects?

I’m the worst drawer in the world so the initial process is the hardest. With editorial work I start out with lots of really bad thumbnails on recycled paper just trying to work with shapes and come up with about 3-5 ideas.

Once they start taking shape I move on to refine the drawings on tracing paper which I can also use to transfer the art to the illustration board once I get a go-ahead on a concept.

I then paint with acrylics on to illustration board, building up lots of layers that I can dig into and scratch away at with just about anything on hand. I want to make the surface look like it has a history and a story to tell. It’s then scanned and I can tweak color and tidy up any marks that I don’t like in Photoshop on my Cintiq Wacom screen.

What inspired you most recently?

I’ve just put together a dummy for a kid’s book that was inspired by my 2 year old son and I’ve been looking at lots of vintage children’s book ephemera. I saw some hand lettering by a guy called ESPO done at Coney Island recently that was really cool.

I saw a talk online by designer Marian Bantjes which inspires me to keep doing what I love doing as opposed to following a trail of money.

As well as all the usual suspects like old medical/health charts, day of the dead imagery, vintage ad characters, battered and beaten hand signage.

© Christopher Nielsen, 2010

What are you working on at the moment?

I just finished up an illustration of Moses handing down “5 things to ask your plan adviser” for PlanSponsor, a female Bigfoot with online customized shoes for Nett Mag, a rum drinking polar bear for The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend and 2 Mexican Wrestling cards for an article on credit v debit cards for Money Mag.

I was struck by the beauty and appeal of such a well designed, drawn and printed book so I thought it would be nice to find out more about the process behind creating such a work, which he had published through a cool printing and publishing company called Nobrow.

Jack gives details of his book: ‘Jeff Job Hunter‘ and the process behind its creation, below.

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Introducing the Book:

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Jeff Job Hunter is about an unemployed man who simply can’t find work. Jeff is on his 13th week of the dole, and has his payments stopped. He has to go on a work placement to receive further benefits. His work placement is to go into the dungeon underneath the job centre to kill a monster to start his payments again.

Jeff Job Hunter is a story based around the trouble I had with signing on, when I was unemployed. I wanted to create a comic which reflected the situation I was in, but add in my sense of humour.

Nobrow approached me after they had spotted my work at the D&AD design awards. They create artists books, comics, narratives, limited prints and showcase the talents of a variety of artists and illustrators.

I had worked with them on their Nobrow: Jungle book, they were pleased with my work, and knew that I drew comics for fun.

They want to give a platform for British comic artists and writers because there isn’t really a platform for comics in the UK like there is in Europe or America. They asked me if I was interested in creating a comic book for them, gave me the specifications and asked me to start writing up a story.

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Planning the Story:

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When I had to sign on, everything seemed pointless. I would search for jobs days on ends, attend interviews well out of my way, where I would have trouble getting to work everyday. The people at the job centre just didn’t seem to care, they always treated me like I was a waste of time and space.

I wanted to try and get some of that into my comic, a poor man going to impossible lengths to get work or to receive payments while receiving indifference from the job centre employees. I had no shortage of ideas for the project because of my experiences, so I started to plan.

I started off with a blank page for each comic page,and started to try and flesh out the idea by drawing a small rough comic. At this point, I didn’t know the style, or really what was going to happen.

I showed Nobrow the comic, they made suggestions and changes and then I started to write up a much more solid story based on the feedback and rough comic. Now I had a script for each page, so I made another plan which was much more developed.

The style was taking shape, and I managed to fit more into the comic. After a few chops and changes, Nobrow were happy with the comic, and I started to work on the final.

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Planning the Visuals:

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Visually I tried to keep to my usual style when I work in pen, I thought this would relax me and get the best work out of me. I wanted to keep it simple, but also be able to build up areas of detail when needed.

When I created the characters I wanted to create a protagonist you could sympathise with.

I designed my characters hunched over, so they looked tired and like they couldn’t be bothered with things.

I usually draw my characters with large eyes, but I thought that I could get more expressive faces by simplifying them to black dots.

With panel layout I kept things quite traditional. I didn’t want to cram too many panels in, so I think at the most I have five or six panels per page.

I use more panels if I need to get crucial timing across, and less panels for easier to read material.

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Rendering the Finished Piece:

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When inking the finals, I planned out the pages and doubled the size to get more detail into them, put in bleeds and panels, and then inked into them. Nobrow have a very unique way of colouring their work, which I had to follow.

I was given three colours to work with, and had to use Photoshop to merge and blend these three layers of colour to get a variety of other tones and colours. Mixing all three gets the dark line I used for outlines.

The process was quite complicated, but the outcome was well worth it.

Text wasn’t too much of an issue, I’m a big fan of hand drawn types, so I hand wrote everything in the book, including the publishing information in the back.

I didn’t need to worry too much about printing, as I sent my files to Nobrow, and they checked everything was in order before the print run.

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Getting Published:

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I’ve worked backwards for this process, instead of approaching a publisher with an idea, they saw that I drew and self published comics, and wanted to give me a chance to create a published work. It was going to be in book form from day one.

© Jack Teagle and Nobrow, 2010

I think from my experience, the best advice I can give is, keep drawing comics, just draw for you own amusement, self publish, post online, get them seen!

The more comics you draw, the better you will get at pacing, timing, telling a story and drawing. People will be able to see you create comics and approach you.

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Buy the book here!

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His work process involves an ink drawing on paper, followed by acrylic and digital colouring. At the moment Julian is working on a series of oil painting illustrations, claiming it is ‘something I’ve always had respect for but not been able to concentrate on before‘.

© Julian De Narvaez, 2010

What are the main tools you use in creating your illustrations?

I mainly use a brush pen and pencil and then I go back with Photoshop for color. I’ve got some background in printmaking and when I can, I try and mimic those techniques in my digital work. So if I have a color layer I try and create it with ink on vellum traced over the drawn layer and I scan that and use it instead of just using a boring Photoshop brush.

I also work with gouache and sometimes acrylic. I love how unforgiving and unpredictable gouache is, and acrylic is amazing for it’s versatility.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m working on a book cover for Small Desk Press by Lizzy Acker. The book is called Monster Party and I’m super stoked about it. I’m also busy working on some pieces for exhibitions here and there. I’m also trying to learn a few new songs on the accordion.

Where do you mainly get inspired?

I find a lot of inspiration in my extensive collection of books. I worked at a library for a few years and when people would donate books to the library I would get first pick (the books land in the trash most of the time anyways) I got all kinds of great books from there.

Some nice high end art books, but a lot of old encyclopedias, a book of erotic limericks, medical procedures, military yearbooks, an illustrated children’s pulp novel, and lots of EC comics. I’m also inspired by the Los Angeles. I’ve lived in the area my whole life and the colors and the landscape are everywhere in my work. I think cowboy movies are pretty sweet too.

© Josh Evans, 2010

Despite only very recently completing an illustration course, her work has achieved a very high level of consistency and accomplished style. I asked her a few questions about her background and work.

What training have you had in illustration?

When I started my study of Arts in my city I didn’t have an illustration department, so I started learning illustration by myself. Three years later I went to an illustration College in Canada. This year I finished my degree in Barcelona.

How long has it taken you to develop your style?

I’ve been always drawing people and animals but I started to be more comfortable with this style while traveling and moving form city to city. At first I used to work with wattercolors but now I always prefer digital.

What materials do you use and what is your work process?

I start working on my sketchbook with a pencil or pen. Then I use Photoshop to finish it.

For personal work I like going to public places and take some roughs from people around me. For assignments sometimes I need go to specific places for referents. If I need to create some animal illustrations I could go to a park, pet shop or the zoo. I love looking for real references rather than photos.

©  Laura Pérez, 2010

What are you working on right now?

Right now I´m working on a cover book for Penguin Books.