Close up of the recipe illustration
Time for a Visual Feast
In 2017, thanks to Lilly Chow from The Cleaver Quarterly (and Women Who Draw!), I'm lucky to be selected as one of the illustrator to contribute to The Illustrated Wok, a print collection featuring 40 hand-illustrated Chinese recipes from some of the best chefs around.
Now, I'm happy to share the copy I've finally received from them, since that their Kickstarter campaign was a success.
Book Cover Art by another artist (will give credit when I find out!)
I was more than thrilled to find out that the recipe page assigned to me was none other than the Penang Nyonya Pickled Dish (Acar Hu). Having spent quite some time away from home at that point, the subject just hit home with me right away.
Acar Hu Recipe page - content courtesy of Robyn Eckhardt, original recipe by Madame Khaw
Hence, I've began to design the illustration with the intent to revoke the nostalgic sentiment by employing the layout of the vintage hand-drawn packaging and earth tone colours. I've also placed a few elements such as street sign and ceramic tile design (as borders) that would remind one of Penang.
Preliminary Sketch on a primary school exercise book - it only seemed fitting for this somewhat nostalgic topic.
Full illustration on the spread
Madame Khaw selling her dishes by the road side stall. She's a cook making a living as a hawker on the Penang Island.
Check out this article about her stall by Robyn Eckhardt.
Thanks for reading.
You can still get a copy of the recipe artbook here!
