Inside the Course: Developing an Illustration Practice with Lily Kong
Gain insight into how a working illustrator keeps creative and builds a commercial practice. Plus find out what to expect from our 6 week course with tutor Lily Kong
Interested to start your illustration journey? Find out more and book your place: Developing an Illustration Practice. (opens in new window)
Could you tell about your own path into illustration? Did you always want to be an illustrator?
I was raised in Hong Kong with the most typical Hong Kong kid route - getting good grades and a good job. But things took a turn when my parents believed in my art and encouraged me to pursue illustration. So many years later, here I am working as an illustrator and tutor!
Could you tell us about a recent project you have worked on and that you especially enjoyed?
Some of my recent favourite projects are event drawings for fashion houses like Hermes and Montblanc. Over the past few years, I have worked on a lot of editorial illustrations and product illustrations but event drawing is something special. For the first time, I received lots of appreciation from strangers in person while working on something live. The drawings I make in events are often under tight time constraints. I not only have to make a good drawing to impress the guests but also have interesting conversations with them. Lots of duties for an illustrator who normally works in front of her desk in absolute silence!
I love that the work is both interactive and creative. It also helped me understand a little more about myself as a person and an illustrator - that I want to create more engaging experiences for others and share my knowledge - which was also why I got into teaching.
– Lily KongI am a firm believer that our art is part of our lived experience, our interests and our personality. Hence developing a creative practice is closely tied to our growing understanding of ourselves as a person.
How do you develop a consistent personal creative practice day to day?
I am a firm believer that our art is part of our lived experience, our interests and our personality. Hence developing a creative practice is closely tied to our growing understanding of ourselves as a person. I am the kind of person who likes analysing and evaluating every single thing I do, so I reframe my creative practice all the time. It has been evolving from expressing joy, finding the balance between illustration and humour to exploring nostalgia and memories through making. It’s been a really interesting journey so far! I get to try different mediums and make ideas come to life, while letting the work and my thoughts take me somewhere new.
Do you have particular habits that help you stay creatively energised or that help you if you feel in a creative rut?
When I am stuck, I always try two things. First, I go back to my old sketches and old work and try to recreate them in different ways. It may be me recreating a drawing of a tree in more colours, adding prickly brushstrokes or enlarging the drawing by 100%. In this process, no matter how good or bad the drawing is, I will still be able to get some valuable insights and hopefully carry on.
The second thing I do is that I just go out with friends, go outside and doodle. I draw every single thing that remotely interests me. It can be a silly looking dog goofing around, two people having a fight in the cafe, the barista accidentally dropping a glass etc. This is mainly to keep my hands moving and so I get back into creating quicker.
– Lily KongI am here to help anyone who wants to understand more about illustration, find out who they are as a creative and start preparing their illustration path
What can people expect from your Developing an Illustration Practice(opens in new window) course? Why should they join?
My course is set up for people who are interested in illustration and working as an illustrator. Illustration has so much potential. The work can live in so many different mediums and spaces. But it is certainly not easy directing yourself through making, living as a creative and making a career out of it.
I am here to help anyone who wants to understand more about illustration, find out who they are as a creative and start preparing their illustration path. It will be lots of fun, lots of exercises, lots of assignments but it’s also a stress-free time for play!