Tag: illustration

As The Coronavirus Rages On, Cartoonists Lash Out With Irony, Quiet And Candor

Posted on by Jason Li
A muscular half person, half snake has wrapped a bunch of doctors and journalists in its arms and is gesturing for them to be silent.
Created by 撒旦君 Sadan via Weibo.

Despite dramatic measures taken to stem the tide, the coronavirus is still spreading across China and the rest of the world. Confined to their homes, independent cartoonists in China continue expressing their views around the epidemic through their works. Some creators have reached a state of detached irony, while others are…

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Chinese Cartoonists Grieve, Pray & Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak

Posted on by Jason Li
An anxious seal and octopus in a crowded room with their suitcase. Everyone has surgical masks on.
Illustration by Wang XX from Weibo.

As Wuhan and other nearby cities in China remain in lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, the normally festive Lunar New Year season is now beset with anxiety and grief. People across the country have taken to social media to share messages of concern, to share tips on…

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Chinese Comics Review

Cantonese.jpg: A boisterous, cartoon dictionary of idioms, proverbs and slang

Posted on by Jason Li
Two covers for the Cantonese.jpg books, featuring a cartoon chicken reading/eating Cantonese text

Hong Kong cartoonist Ah To has three claims to fame: as an internet culture expert, political cartoonist, and linguist of the Cantonese language. First, he rose to prominence after creating the Golden Creature Card game that celebrates the city’s internet culture. Then he built a career as a political cartoonist, with provocative comics that frequently go…

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Chinese Comics Review

An illustrated love letter to the Beijing underground music scene

Posted on by Jason Li
Cover image of Open All The Buddha Boxes (excerpt)

This early excerpt from Open All the Buddha Boxes chronicles the rise of two seminal Beijing bands, Hang On The Box and Chui Wan, as they carve out a space for themselves in and outside of China. We follow members of the two bands as they develop their sounds, identities and aesthetics, and we see how they affect and are…

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Chinese Comics Review

Ping Pong 4: cataloguing explorations through illustration

Posted on by Jason Li

Table display of candy, caricatures and collected trash objects
Objects and drawings from the Ping Ping Vol. 4 exhibition opening

Ping Pong Vol. 4 marks the Hong Kong publication’s continuing shift away from comics to the world of illustration. Titled Field Guide Collection, this latest volume finds its artists cataloguing various objects, behaviors and techniques through their drawings. As with the previous issue,…

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Chinese Comics Review

The psychedelic art of an Adventure Time-inspired Chinese webcomic

Posted on by Jason Li

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Electrocat and Lightning Dog is an indie webcomic set in a futuristic world of talking animals, aliens and psychedelic strawberries. Inspired by Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time, it follows the tried-and-true formula of two best friends going on random adventures, except that Electrocat and Lightning Dog is even more zany and non-linear than its progenitor.

…

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Chinese Comics Review

Ping Pong #03: a visually-stunning package of risograph comics

Posted on by Jason Li

Photo of Ping Ping 03 package

Ping Pong #03 is all about the printed, physical object, and the results are stunning. Eschewing the convention of a single, bound book, Ping Pong #03 comes as a lushly-packaged set of seven booklets, written and illustrated by seven different artists. While every booklet looks visually distinct, they all bear the mark of the risograph printing process: bright,…

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Digital murals of Cantonese proverbs and profanity… translated

Posted on by Jason Li

Digital mural of Cantonese profanity By Ahto

Graphic artist Ahto (阿塗) has just released his second digital mural documenting modern Cantonese in Hong Kong: this time, it features Cantonese profanity. Originally featured in City Magazine, Ahto has released an animated version online!

Kind commenters on the Cantonese subreddit have translated some of the terms depicted above. Here’s a selection of…

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