ABOUT THE BRIEF Hong Kong Foody is an illustrated guide to the city’s culinary world. The guide aims to show readers a less commercial side of Hong Kong, introducing less known restaurants to tourists and encouraging them to experience the city. The guide comes with two figurines the readers could bring with them around the city when they’re on their foody adventure!
INITIAL IDEA My initial idea for this module was to create a guidebook about Hong Kong, depicting the city through my perspective. The publication would also include comic strips about my experience in the city, and little annotations describing each landmark or cuisine. The guidebook would have three sections: landmarks, transport, and food. The main point of the guidebook is that it’s not commercial and promotes the audience to explore and experience the city itself instead of focusing on shopping and only going to specific landmarks considered as ‘tourist traps’. A figurine would also come with the guidebook for the reader to bring around Hong Kong as they’re exploring the city to photograph, which would increase the ‘personal’ aspect as well as the reader’s interaction with the product.
RESEARCH I looked at a lot of different illustrators’ work before creating images for my publication mainly due to the fact that I was pretty lost about how I’d compose the images. Besides looking at illustrators I also looked at books: Idle Idol and Dot Dot Dash. These two books really helped with developing the figurine aspect of the deliverable. I also looked at local Hong Kong illustrators to investigate the range aspect of the deliverable as most local illustrators apply their illustrations on a lot of merchandise. The research stage was a little shorter than expected, as I was familiar with the topic of my brief which is my hometown. However, I felt like my sufficient research in other areas helped with my decision making throughout this module.
VISUAL INVESTIGATION After researching I was pretty determined to create vector images for my publication as I was very inspired by the cartoonish nature of collectible toys, Japanese mascots, and Japanese illustrator Kimiaki Yaegashi. However, the more I drew by hand the more comfortable I felt doing that, so I decided to abandon the vector idea and go with hand drawn illustration instead. This was also a refreshing change as I have always been trying to stick to digital illustration. I experimented with different media including marker pens, colour pencils, ink, and water colour. In the end I decided to go with water colour; something I’ve never really worked with, but I really liked how the images could have solid colours yet still look soft. As I was painting, I also realized that I was leaning more towards food when drawing in my visual journal; my landscape paintings weren’t as strong as the food themed images, which led to the decision to change the approach of the guidebook. Instead of making three categories, I will be making a food themed guidebook, but general idea of giving the reader a less commercial experience still stands.
FIGURINE EXPERIMENTATION I have never really been a ‘hands-on’ type of person, so working with sculpy was a fairly new experience for me. The first figurine I made looked pretty rough as I didn’t have the appropriate tools to smooth the clay out and it looked really lumpy, it was also a little burnt due to the incorrect oven temperature. After getting my hands on a set of sculpy tools, I was able to make smaller and more intricate figurines. I also tried to make a figurine with a wire skeleton structure according to a YouTube tutorial, but it didn’t work out. In the end, I made my figurines by making each body part separately and connecting them with bits of wire. This allowed me to make smaller figurines that didn’t look as lanky.
INITIAL FIGURINE
FINAL FIGURINES I was initially planning to only make one figurine for the guidebook, but after the peer crits and tutorials I decided to make two so it would be suitable for a wider range of audience. Though the figurines handmade, I feel like the quality wasn’t too bad. However, if the product was to be distributed to stores and sold, I’d prefer if they were made out of plastic as the colours and texture would be more professional. The figurines were primed with a gel medium before painted on which gave it a smoother surface, making the acrylic paint look less streaky. I am also very pleased with the amount of detail I was able to put on the figurines, including the paper ice cream cone holder and the logos and laces on the shoes.
CREATING THE PUBLICATION I painted each page by hand with water colour and outlined it with micron pens. I then scanned the images onto Photoshop to edit and add captions. I felt like the quality of the images gradually improved as I was painting, and after completing the book I felt like my water colouring skills were a lot more refined. Earlier in the module I was plannign to use perfect binding to bind the guidebook, but later on I decided to go with Japanese binding instead due to time constraints. Japanese binding also gave the guidebook a more homey feel which I think compliments the illustration style I adopted for this brief.
PACKAGING The first box I made was only made to contain the figurines; and during crits I’ve been told that it resembled a coffin, so I redesigned the final packaging with a small window made of acetate to make it look less like a coffin. The most difficult aspect of creating the packaging was to calculating the dimensions of the box because I’m not very good at math. Since I had previous experience with designing packaging during a summer internship, I knew how to create a sturdy boxes without using adhesives. The box I made had two small slots on the botom which allows me to double fold the paper to create thicker sides. So even though I couldn’t print on cardboard at the print resource I managed to make a box that’s strong enough to hold all the products.
Though this is a mockup, I wish it were possible to print it on cardboard to see how the packaging would look like if it was to be distributed and sold.
Luggage tag
RANGE: TRAVEL ACCESSORIES Since the guidebook is for the reader who’s travelling to Hong Kong, I wanted to apply my illustration to travelling themed items. The postcards are to be included in the pack, which the reader could send to family and friends, or pin them up as decoration. The small series of passport covers allows people to choose their preferred mascot. I decided to only stick to a small range of travelling accessories as the other illustrations I have are more food themed and aren’t as appropriate if applied to travel products.
Passport covers
Postcards
RANGE: KITCHENWARE My illustrations could also be applied to kitchenware since my images are food themed. Products include teatowels, appetizer dishes, bowls, and mugs. The appetizer dishes could come in a set of five or more, each with a different print on them. Since my images are based on different restaurants, I might also be able to apply them to the restaurants’ products such as takeout bags for branding purposes. I realized that the street grid pattern is pretty versatile and could be applied to most products, but it doesn’t have a strong theme to it compared to the other illustrations.
POSSIBLE DISTRIBUTORS I also looked up possible publishing houses that could produce and distribute my guidebook. I would obviously have to add more restaurants and possible add more information on each page, but what I have right now is a good start. Chronicle books is a publishing company based in California, and specializes in publishing lifestyle and illustrated books. Joint Publishing is a publishing company based in Hong Kong and publishes a range of books including autobiographies and art based books as well. I didn’t look into the distribution aspect too much as I felt like there are lots of improvements I’d have to make on the guidebook before even thinking about approaching publishing companies.
MODULE EVALUATION This module was very different to 504 in terms of deliverables and structure, but similar to 504 it offered me a chance to develop a useful set of skills and mindset that is useful in the future as an illustrator. Throughout 505 I started to develop my water colouring skills; a medium I have never really approached when working on images as I was unfamiliar with it, and to some extent, scared of it as I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control the brushwork and colour. Creating the guidebook has given me the confidence to work with water colours developing a hand drawn style for image making. Even when looking through the images I’ve produced for the guidebook, I could see my brushwork and use of colours gradually improving. I felt like this module has also helped me get more comfortable with using bright, saturated colours, something I’ve always tried to stay away from. Besides the choice of medium, I’ve also familiarized myself with Adobe InDesign and Illustrator to create the technical side of the product such as formatting and making product nets.
During the researching stage of the module, I’ve looked at a lot more contemporary illustrators for image inspiration and reference for how they’ve developed their range of merchandise and products. As I was researching, I realized that a lot of illustrators apply their images onto the basic products: tote bags, prints, stationery, and phone cases. I wasn’t able to do that as my images had a very refined theme to them, which is food and travel, so I only applied my images to the relevant products within the two categories as I thought my illustrations wouldn’t look as relevant or appealing on phone cases and tote bags. This has its pros and cons; pros being that the range is more unique, so there aren’t as many competitors. However, totes, stationery, and phone cases are usually the most popular products purchased by customers as they’re easily accessible and could be used in a lot of contexts. I’ve also done a fair amount of media experimentation as a method of research to find the most appropriate choice of medium I would use for my guidebook. I was initially thinking of making vector images but abandoned that idea in the end as I was starting to enjoy drawing by hand more; I was also keen to see the outcome as I haven’t been drawing images by hand for any of the final deliverables this school year.
I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on water colours now, but I have to say that I’ve gained confidence in that area and will definitely continue creating images using water colours. My figurines have also been very popular during crits and tutorials; even though I’m not the biggest ‘hands-on’ person I feel like I’d also be able to create more 3D objects with confidence. This module has also given me the chance to think about the merchandising aspect of being an illustrator, which was extremely useful. Though I enjoyed creating the guidebook and figurines, this project caused a huge amount of stress. During the start of the module I was a little too ambitious and wanted to create an entire guidebook to Hong Kong, including landmarks, food, and transport. Even though I narrowed the idea down and focused solely on food later on I still had lots to do. I did work well under pressure; having finished the images for the book within a week, and binding, photographing, and designing the package in the following week, but I feel like I could’ve managed my time better and could’ve avoided having to rush everything within two and a half weeks.
I also felt like I approached the brief in the wrong way where I focused a little too much on the product (guidebook, figurine, and packaging), rather than trying to coming up with a wider range of products I could apply my illustration to. I’ve also encountered several technical difficulties during the module. I initially planned on using perfect binding to bind my book to give it a more professional look. However, since I am not entirely familiar with the process, I was worried it might ruin the book. I ended up using Japanese binding instead which surprisingly complimented the style of the images, and also gave the book a less commercial look which reinforced the noncommercial element of the book. Overall, I have acquired some useful skills and created a product I am satisfied with in this module. Though there are plenty of things I could improve on, I felt like I really did try my very best to create something that I am proud of.