Scenes From Hong Kong I

I'm back from Hong Kong and have some things to share with you. It was a really enjoyable trip, and there were very few things about the country I didn't like. If the people are friendly (which they are in this case) then the trip is generally off to a good start. I was particularly interested in electronics, architecture, T-shirt designs and just general visuals in public places. Anyway, instead of lumping all the stuff in one post, I'll do a series of posts which should hopefully show you some interesting things.

A staggering array of magazines, many of which are devoted to technology. There are several about the iPhone 4 alone.

This installation is at Times Square, a huge shopping centre. You can't tell too easily but that's a black steam train. It's got Hogwarts Express written on it, whatever that is. The blue sign says London, Kings Cross. Beats me. Every teenage girl in HK was there that day, though.


The Hang Seng index, prominently displayed out front of the eponymous bank. Many people deal in stocks, so this info is critical. Looks like it's taken a hit here...

Are you a racecar nerd who's also into classical music? Then this piano design is for you. The car-like leather seat and aerodynamic bodywork will be perfect as you perform Beethoven's "Ecossaise" while fanging it around Causeway Bay. You'll need some bulldog clips for your sheet music though.

Bape (A Bathing Ape) is a Japanese clothing line and here is the front of HK's Bape store, with its three hooded pocketed-handed silverclones. What does it all mean?

Apartment blocks are a curious geometric patchwork, studded with air conditioners and draped with drying clothes.

More to come next time, you bet.

Hong Kong

Hey everyone. I'm here in Hong Kong, a country I always wanted to visit ever since I saw the huge backlit panorama of the harbour on the wall at the Man Lin Chinese Restaurant in Perth in the early '90s. It just looked so cool with all those skyscrapers and neon lights and is the main reason why night cityscapes feature so heavily in my illustrations.

There have been many amazing sights so far, but two stand out, both of which I saw yesterday. One is the unique architecture of the HSBC Bank Headquarters, built in 1986. It is supported by eight huge pillars and is actually suspended off the ground, so you can walk underneath it and look up into its glass underbelly; it seems they did this to obey the rules of feng shui so you can walk in a straight line from the Star Ferry to Government House. The other is the night view of Hong Kong harbour from Victoria Peak, a sight you can never get tired of (even though you'll already be tired standing in line for an hour for the Peak Tram).

It has been very hot and humid and I've been riding the subway a lot and buying T-shirts and other things. My four cameras have been getting a good workout (Colorsplash, Diana, digital and camcorder) so by the time I get back I'll present a photo gallery: examples of contemporary HK graphic design, store fronts and advertising, as well as some sketches I've been doing while here. Be sure to stop by and check them out!

Geeks In Space #21

I like this one. Spike's in it.

See you in August!

Quartz

Geeks In Space #20

The most controversial Geeks strip so far (apart from that earlier one about 50 Cent), as it features a real-life person. No, I didn't bother to change his name for the strip; no, he hasn't read it; and no, he hasn't come around to kick my head in. Yes, he actually said the things in the strip, and yes, this sequence was recycled for use in another comic (see below) because I thought it was pretty funny.

Constantinople is now 51 pages complete even though I haven't worked on it for ages (and the rest of the comics are on indefinite hiatus), it is taking shape quite well – the (true) events in it take place in random order and it jumps from one scene to another, though if you're a fan of moronic reality television this shouldn't bother you. The truth is I'm not completely willing to let anyone see it because they'll just think I made it all up, which is why you haven't seen much of it on here.

This will hopefully change however, once I decide to what extent the characters' designs differ from their real-life counterparts.