Like many projects, I always find the early stage sketches very exciting to share. When I was asked to put up a showcase at their space, i knew I had to put together the early iterations like as if the anniversary artwork had its cousins, offspring or family pictures all up on their walls during a house visit.🤪
Writing the tale behind the artwork was also something that took some creative cracking. I mean in the beginning I wasn’t paying much attention to the narrative but as we evolved the artwork, it really humoured me that Felix the cat (a mischievous prankster) was reimagined as a cafe-owner running a cafe with a… legged bag?? Like what do you mean. HAHAH
Anyways, get that gag, get the bag .Get the gaga. Thank you once again to the people of @hideout.coffeebar for giving me a reason to use my hands, to draw and saw, print and pin my imagination. 🧟🧙🧚 always a good feeling to be part of a lovely bunch that brings people together! ☺️ cheers, z.
Img Credit (slide 1): @lensofmira
The idea behind the illustration was to capture the spirit of @hideout.coffeebar — the space, the objects, and the people that make it what it is.
Basically just putting what I daydream about on paper while zoning out in the café, waiting for the iced white to hit 😴💭🐈⬛🛸🦄☁️
I think that’s how Felix the Cat and a walking bag ended up running the place HAHAHAHA Big love to @asminey and @deonasaurus for this one ♥️ absolutely the warmest !!
Visual for @hideout.coffeebar ‘s first anniversary event 🎊
Had so much fun capturing the spirit of Hideout in a little commemorative illustration - will share more in the next post!
For now, here’s a peek of how a little coffee bar took over the streets of mackenzie road with GOOD ENERGY AND CREATIVITY 🤪🏓🎨 #designinsingapore #sgillustrator #creativecollaboration
Img Credit: @lensofmira (slide 1, slide 4 top img)
Here’s some BTS of A Matter of Time Zine. I made two dummies before landing on this folding method that creates this long-form dimension with 24pp that holds comfortably in the hand. Plus, it makes it easy to be passed around because it’s small 😜📃🌐
Printed on A4 off-cuts from @rjpapersg
Essay 📝 @ipw.sg
Images 🖼️ @justinzhuang
Design 👨🏻💻 @zayrerboy
Print @thegentlemenspress
Initiated by @aaahstudio@rjpapersg
Designing a zine for “A Matter of Time” written by Justin was probably one of the most exciting briefs I had.
Building on his essay on print matters, I set out on a creative challenge to convey the idea of print ephemera through simple graphics. This challenge led to using creative coding to generate images of squares, moving actively yet fading into the background both at the same time.
Then, what resulted was a playful layout of text and images, with these squares moving you through pages of Justin’s story about his fascination with printed matter (🤫 that eventually led to Singapore Graphic Archives)
Super fun one! Thank you @aaahstudio and @rjpapersg for the opportunity, and @justinzhuang for the inspiring text!
This zine is free to pick up at select locations across Singapore.
@workingtitlesg
LASALLE, BLK D # 01-01, 1 McNally Street, Singapore 187940
@casualpoetlibrary
123 Bukit Merah Lane 1 # 01-110, Singapore 779830
@heartware.store
350B Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427598
@p5xjs generative code > ink on paper > cut to frames > scanner > stacked manually > back to becoming endless on screen again 💭
a loop stuck to 24 paper frames📃 visual exploration for a recent zine project with @aaahstudio@rjpapersg@ipw.sg - will share more about it ✨
Ahh, finally found some time to wrap up the latest edition of 35A Market. Working with a modest budget, @junzloke and I decided to keep things simple but loud this year! We took our market logo and swapped it out with illustrations under the theme: “hair books art music wine friends,” plus a set of tongue-in-cheek captions to create a series of posters.
Designed in a single colour, we printed them on wide-format laser printers (the kind usually meant for construction plans) to keep things cost-friendly. They were then plastered across the walls for a one-day event, transforming the salon into a market space - and hopefully to make people stop, look, and giggle at whatever we found funny while typing away. ⚠️⚠️There may have been a glass or two of wine involved while designing them…. I blame Junz.
Also, setting them up turned out to be a pleasant surprise as they somehow matched our vendors’ vibes 😂. Always a pleasure working with you @junzloke 🤪🤝 - will only be working with you if there’s wine involved from now on 🍷🍾 yey- finally a wrap for me!!
I was asked if I like what I’m doing mid-hyper fixating on my iPad while getting a right pencil stroke. I hastily replied: idk! it’s just problem solving to me!
After drawing for so many years, I’ve sort of developed an approach to illustration that feels like a puzzle game. A puzzle of finding the right balance between organic and geometric lines, or stacking the elements just right so they feel like they carry weight. Sometimes I doubt the low-fidelity in my illustrations. But when I do, I remind myself: I design these characters with intent, to communicate the brand, and I choose to render them simplified and rough, not because they’re unfinished in craft, but because they’re open. Open to being reimagined again and again. It’s an intentional choice - to be flexible with illustration and position them as interdependent with the art direction. They are elements part of an asset that is alive, melleable and ready to exist in different forms, colours, or even texts!
And working on this with my client-turned-pal, turned co-organiser @junzloke , created this good synchrony and understanding! I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to continue practicing and refining my design approach to not only just solve puzzle games in my head but also to shake up illustration as a communicative tool! And even better, to be a part of raising each other up in Singapore!
Hair. Art. Book. Music. Wine. Friends, whether in imagery, in words, in phrases or in keepsakes tomorrow, 1-9PM at 35A Kampong Bahru Rd! See yall 👋🏻
35A MARKET POSTER printed on Maple Bright & White 120gsm!
@35a_official
A paper, thread, and light turned friendly. A Friendly Hand (x3) sits on birch plywood, a material that echoes Simard’s meaningful 1997 study on interspecies support between birch and fir saplings. Each hand connects to The Brain, a.k.a. The Mother of Hands, forming a system that dances to light, to life!
I never thought my experiments would one day blend robotics, print, and digital media HAHAH but somehow they did, and I got to do it my way🙇🏻♂️ Magician, jester, designer, whatever, I bend pixels and papers to make a paper hand dance🕺🏻
This project is part of ‘Open Endings’, the LASALLE BA (Hons) Graduate Exhibition, alongside many brilliant works spanning across mediums.
Titled: Dreaming of an Interspecies Sensor
Featuring:
🌳 A Friendly Hand — sensing machine artefact
📖 A publication of experiments + A Friendly Hand zine
📺 A short film on dreaming with a friendly hand
Visit:
📍 LASALLE College of the Arts
🗺️ B1-09, Open Endings Exhibition
🗓 23 May – 4 June 2025
