A Hong Kong-based illustrator, Lau Kwong Shing is a fighter. He remembers growing up in Japan, moving back to Mainland China, fitting in, cultural differences, freedom of expression, and how his adventure has shaped his unique style. On June 30th, a security law was passed in Hong Kong which changed the lives of its residents. Criminalizing words and images, which were previously protected by free speech. Lau speaks with us about the role of an artist in the times when the media is being censored and his obligations to society. The unexpected friction of pencil on paper, and how his ideas come into being. He will be answering 20 questions from Farrago Letter, giving us a glimpse into the world of an unconventional illustrator, taking on the role of a fighter in a world where artists become a fighter for human rights and breaking stereotypes of post-WWII culture.

Lau, introduce yourself to us

I'm a 30-year-old comic artist who is based in Hong Kong. When I was 2, my family moved to Japan for around 7 years. I was born in Hong Kong, but I am often treated as Japanese due to my appearance, and the accent that I have when talking both Chinese and Cantonese. I'm pretty sure my family wanted me to be 100% Japanese, but due to their failure in business, they were forced to come back to Hong Kong. I was told that I am a Hong Konger when I was 9 years old. My mom never wanted to explain this to me, but I was forced to face such a confusion of identity when I had to live in a brand new place again, and it really disconnected me from my old perceptions. The identity wasn't really a huge concern because I wasn't totally aware of it until my family told me that we have to leave Japan soon

During my time in Japan, I was exposed to Japanese Manga and started to fall in love with comics. I started drawing when I was 3 years old. At the age of around 7, I was already pretty sure I would treat art as my profession.

After that, I stayed in Mainland China for a year. I was shocked by the cultural difference. I was forced to understand the impact of world history on the Chinese people, who seemed to have hatred towards the Japanese because of what happened during WWII.

I have spent most of my life in Hong Kong since I was 9 years old. Hong Kong came with its own cultural shock. Totally different from China. Hong Kong is more influenced by Japanese pop culture, like movies, Jpop, manga, anime, etc. They also were more positive towards me and my background.

I built up lots of curiosity when I was still young (most kids are supposed to be like that, I guess). I suffered discrimination and bullies when I was still in mainland China, rather than being sad and isolating myself, I kept asking where that hate came from, and how that hate is related to society and global relationships among different nations. And that curiosity helped my creativity. I refused to base my judgment of art on stereotyped impressions that society at large had. For example, I never thought that comics are art for kids and teenagers only, just because the common narrative is a character with supernatural powers that fights against evil characters, it did not have to be limited to that. I found the language of comics interesting and kept exploring it until now, as an art form. This thinking helped me break out of limiting beliefs imposed upon me because of cultural differences I had to face when growing up.

What is your favorite book or a comic book?

“Here” by Richard Mcguire, converted the book's physicality as a 3D space. In most cases, people assume that a book is the standard way of publishing a comic, and all the content is printed on paper. Other than the paper, it's not a concern for most cases. (like how people flip the book, in which environment they read the book). But for “Here”, his front book cover is a window viewed from outside, and the back cover is a wall also viewed from outside. When the book is opened in a rectangle angle, the window and the wall form a 3-dimensional space which can be interpreted as how we view the corner of a house. For the inside pages, Richard Mcguire creates the interior environment of the house. When you start to read the book, you get inside the house and see what's going on in the space inside.

The whole comic was drawn at the exact same angle as to how the interior space of the house is viewed. Another interesting way is he drew the space in different years, even B.C. 4,000,000,000, modern era, 16 century and futuristic era. He tried to show how space looked when the house was still not there, and how the house was built, and different families spent their days in the house.

And “Balthazar” by Tobias Tycho Schalken, is also a huge inspiration as he also tried out lots of unique narration styles, which shows how a comic can be created in an unusual way. Like how he draws past and present moments in the same panel, which typically, comic artists would draw in different panels.

You are known as a comic book artist. What does the comic art scene look like in Hong Kong?

For Hong Kong comics, I guess most foreigners would think our comics are strongly related to kung fu fighting, gangster cultures, and the drawings are usually very realistic and detailed. But for me, it's an impression of an older era. The comic scene in Hong Kong nowadays is much more diverse, and also influenced by different cultures. We have artists doing different styled comics, like Korean webtoons (when the comic is drawn in super long stripe and user-friendly for smartphone users which audiences can keep swiping the screen upward to read the comics drawn below), traditional Kung-Fu comics, Japanese manga, one-panel comics, independent comics. All of them are having a certain amount of exposure worldwide.

After moving around a lot, I felt very unfamiliar/confused about my own identity. I do care more about how a human being is, rather than what county a person comes from. That was how I solved my own identity. Except for my recent political works, my works didn’t really have strong territoriality or cultural characteristics.

Even when I draw comics, I rarely use the horizontally divided panels because the order of page flipping can be different in different cultures. My comics usually have vertically divided panels, which makes sure that people from different places can still read my comics without any confusion.

*All traditional Japanese manga reads from right to left, the reverse of English, which reads from left to right.

I interpret both music and comics as sequential art. Various mediums look different but I tend to explore a universal way of understanding.

Where do you go when you need to find inspiration? Do you have pictures of a place?

Book store, casual chat with friends, walking around in the streets.

How do you work? What does your day look like?

I don't have a strict timetable to work with. I usually just draw when I feel like it. My day is extremely varied. I decide when I sleep and work. Sometimes I wake up at 6 am, and sometimes I go to sleep at 6 am. As long as I can finish my work, I don't really have a regular schedule.

What role does the artist have in society around you?

Widen the audience's senses, the experience of life, and contribute to people's knowledge. This makes me self-reflect on my own works and makes me think about if they are really bringing a brand new, fresh idea that can help people break through the barrier of their regular thinking. And also, the role of art can really be very diverse.

Recently, I started to work more on political art. It is because according to my observation if freedom of speech is in danger, the press, media are facing huge difficulties against totalitarianism, and are struggling with exposing the truth, then it's the artist's obligation to respond to society. Artists are supposed to express things that are related to people, and the society around them.

How has your practice changed over time?

When I was young, I loved Japanese Manga and tried to imitate that style. I was still unaware of comics as an art form, I just admired those successful best selling comic artists and wanted to be one of them. But when I started to study Fine Arts at university, my thoughts changed a lot and shifted my focus to more overlooked aspects of comics. In 2017, the year I started to participate in the Angouleme International Comic Festival, I discovered tons of unique comic books and kept being inspired by those books. Recently, I focused much more on exploring comics through creating varied works, trying to play with panels in different ways.

What makes it your favorite tool?

A pencil is something I cannot really predict exactly where the stroke of the pencil touches the paper first. Because, when a pencil is frequently used, the shape of its tip becomes more and more irregular, which makes me very interested as the outcome of each stroke might not exactly be how I planned it. The physicality of a pen as well. Unlike a liquid medium, like watercolor, oil painting, ink pen, Pencil is a solid form that leaves traces on paper because of the graphite dust left on paper due to friction. It makes it extremely convenient to draw without specific preparation before drawing. Any idea can be visualized instantly on paper. And I love the senses involved in using a pencil as well.

The friction of pencil on paper makes me sense the touch of drawing in a different way.

What does your workplace look like?

Rent in Hong Kong is pricey, I keep moving to a new place almost every year. Usually, it's both a working space and a living space. I draw when I get up from bed and eat when I feel hungry. Which is really convenient. I think the next stop will be in Taiwan. France, Belgium, The Netherlands. These are the destinations I would like to stay in for a new workplace.

How do you work on your illustrations?

I usually draw instantly, with no storyboards. Because I don't want something like a storyboard to limit my ideas afterward. They change frequently. I think not planning too strictly is the best way to work for me.

I usually use the A3 and A4 paper, depending on how large the book will be printed. I tend to express ideas efficiently, and I don't waste too much time on unnecessary details. For example, when I want to express a character's facial expression, the surrounding environment will not be drawn.

What was your education like? Where did you study?

I studied Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. But I quit when I was in the last year of my studies. The reason is that I was committed to my thoughts on the art scene.

I refused to treat a graduation certificate as proof of my abilities. Proof of art should be the art itself, not where the artist came from. The life journey, educational background of artists of course is strongly linked to the art that they create, but what I mean is that the educational background should not be the first filtering criteria for the art. I planned to quit at the very last moment and I really did it. When I look back on it now, I think I did not necessarily need to quit the university, and that I was being too wild and frivolous. But I don’t regret it still.

Who were your biggest supporters when you decided to become an artist?

My brother, mom, and friends. My brother pretty much played a father role. He was able to financially support me when I was still in university. Which allowed me not to be too concerned about living issues. My mom also supports me and I feel really lucky, because in Asian culture, mainstream values for the most families, are expecting their kids to become a doctor, lawyer, etc. I've witnessed a lot of Asian artists still need to struggle for recognition, and have a conflict with their family. When I was a kid, I admired best-selling comic artists and wanted to also be like them. But for now, I basically draw because of my own curiosity.

Do you remember what was your first paid job as an illustrator?

Yes, but It's actually not a job. One day a visitor came to the classroom of the Fine Art department when I was still in university. He walked around and saw my drawing. Unexpectedly he said he wanted to buy my drawing, and paid for it instantly.

You currently work as a freelancer, who is your biggest client?

My biggest client? Rusty Lake. I don't really treat it as a freelance job, I treat it more like a collaboration. Rusty Lake is a game company that is based in The Netherlands. Their games are very unique, which brings a totally different experience to the players. Our values are similar, which is an art based on exploration. They respect me so much that I never felt I work under them. I wasn't that publicly known at that time (I remember I only had like 600 followers on IG). Some people might question why such a huge brand is willing to actively cooperate with such a 'nobody'. But they trusted my ability in art and gave me total freedom to decide how to draw.

It's a comic book, which is one of my most favorite works I've ever created. As they are a huge brand, they have good financial support which allows me to explore printing management too. The cost was pretty high but people are quite satisfied with how every page is printed like an art print. It makes each drawing look like an original. The ink I chose for printing is silvery, slightly reflective, some parts are darker and some parts reflect light. And the choice of paper as well, I chose high-quality drawing paper. I even tested drawing on the paper with a pencil, and the following day it was quite hard for me to observe which part was printed, and which part was drawn. And also, I used transparent paper for the part a character fell into his illusion. The choice of paper really suddenly alters the atmosphere of the story, which clearly divides illusion and reality by using different papers.

Do you have a favorite project you have worked on?

Besides Rusty Lake, it would be another recently released book Fantaisie Ordinaire. We are still exchanging ideas. I also relish their music. Their music composer is interested in my art. We appreciate each other and planned to work on an independent project, which is not related to the game.

“We created a comic book, in which the dialogues are fully replaced by music notes.”

Except for political art, my comics usually don't contain many words. I had an idea that if I replace the words with music notes then, I really would not have to write anything in my comics, which created a better atmosphere. And it worked pretty well, with the French publisher Patayo. Patayo is a brand new Franco-Begium publisher. The owner of publishing also appreciates my art, which is why we started this project. Due to Covid-19, I couldn't make it to France again this year for a book signing, but the cooperation was really fun. We even met in real life at the Angouleme International Comic Festival this year, which is really cool.

What are your goals for the future?

Keep creating better works, be more inspiring, widen the wisdom of people.

You can find Lau Kwong Shing’s instagram here, @cowcowtony