London Lessons: The People

Part 1 of sharing a project that is near and dear to my heart

When I was 18, I graduated from high school in Taiwan. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I just knew that I wanted it to be “creative.” So instead of committing my foreseeable future to a program I wasn’t sure about, I decided to take a 9 month foundation course in London.

Please enjoy these incredibly dorky photos of me circa 2014

The course itself was a terrible decision, but the journey itself was one I came to appreciate. In 2014 I arrived in London as a little baby who had never lived on her own, alone and afraid. When I was there, I kept a note on my phone that I would update with every quirk or culture shock moment I witnessed. By the time I left, I was still a little baby, but one who had made new friends, experiences and found an actual direction I wanted to take my life.

Eventually I made my way to SVA after a brief summer in Taiwan and countless applications to transfer colleges. However, it turned out my foundation course only covered studio credits and I earned no academic credits (damn you London). So instead of having a regular freshman year at SVA, I only took one semester filled with boring academic credits. I was FINALLY here, and I STILL had to wait to be in a proper studio class.

When summer rolled by, I was filled with frustration. I was frustrated in my relationship. I was frustrated with myself and my lack of creative work. I was frustrated that I still didn’t get to take an actual art class that I’d been waiting to do since I was in middle school.

So I decided to take things into my own hands. I broke up with my boyfriend. I traveled. And most importantly, I decided to work on a long project for myself. I re-read my notes list I kept in London which I titled “Things I Learned in London” and decided that I would illustrate it.

I set up a schedule for myself, drawing 1 spread every one to two days from my bedroom at home. By the end of summer, I had binge watched all of Game of Thrones, did a bunch of classic soul searching, and completed 80 pages of this project before I went back to SVA to finally begin my “art education.”

I’ve held onto this project for years now because it was the first big project I ever accomplished on my own. I’ve been nervous to share it because it’s so incredibly personal and I was so young when I made it. I do think working on this really solidified my love for telling stories and led me down the path to where I am today. I’ve tried sharing it on Instagram, but the compositions just don’t fit well in a square format and I’ve been obsessed with wanting to “do it right”. But now it’s now been 6 years since I did this project and I think I’m finally ready to share it in it’s entirety here on Substack. I’ve really grown a lot as an illustrator, writer and person so please be kind to me!

Since it’s long, I’m going to split it into parts, so here is the first part:

I figured I would share a short section today since I wrote so much in the beginning but I’ll post a chunkier illustrated section tomorrow.

Also I know the text is SO small but this was made on Adobe indesign and I can’t afford it anymore so I can’t change the text size! I’m sorry!!