Shona Wong

DESCRIPTION //

If I could tell you how I’m doing at life, I’d say this piece describes it in a nutshell. The rough waves represent how life is a roller coaster not just mentally, but emotionally. My brain riding the sea, with myself on top: my own identity itself is something I am still discovering, exploring and struggling with. The world is much bigger than I am and at the same time, there is a world within myself to explore. I always have constant frustrations with life, myself and the world yet I want to explore and discover and find appreciation in it. It’s a jumble of emotions but I’m still on the journey, discovering myself and life one step at a time.

DESIGN PROCESS //

For most works I do, I always ask myself these questions:

What am I trying to achieve? What am I trying to explore and why will this be worthy of my time? What do I want to communicate and share with others? Why do I want to communicate this?

For every work, I always sketch out a concept thinking about these questions and then once I am set with the idea, I gun for it. I feel like there

is two different mindsets when I do my work: one that is imaginative and think of the concepts; why the concept is worth communicating. Another is a technical mindset, where once I have the concept, I use the skills I have to execute the artwork. At other times, I just start project for the sake of exploring and being curious.

How would you describe your style?

My style has always been a free-flow and hand-drawn style as I value and respect human quality: the perfections of our imperfections and embracing those imperfections as part of being human and expressing ourselves.

In every piece I create, I want to be as honest as possible. I enjoy creating immersive experiences for others, and so in every work I do, I want to give it plenty of thought and imagination for others to delve into. I love using symbolism and references from my personal life as hints to a bigger story. The most important part though is being child-like and curious. I find my best works is when I’m being playful and just exploring without any fears or worries interfering.

What are your influences?

The mixture of Asian and Western Pop Culture highly influences my work aesthetic and themes, as I grew up in an Asian/Western environment. I love the cute and wackiness of Asian culture but also enjoy the humor, openness and sarcasm of Western culture.

In my opinion, we take psychology and the human capacity for granted and so, I want to raise awareness in my work that we should appreciate and develop ourselves as we’re more capable than we think.

One of favourite design heroes is James Victore for his belief about being bold and fearless in the creative world.

If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

“Shelter” by Porter Robinson and Madeon. It has this feeling of yearning for more yet staying in the comfort zone which I feel that’s where I’m at currently.

ILLUSTRATOR | PERTH, WA

AGE | 22

INSTAGRAM | @somechuppy FACEBOOK | @somechuppy WEBSITE | shonawong.myportfolio.com

TOOLS | Adobe Illustrator, pen and paper