This article is part of our Spotlight on Chinese American Artists. Sign up for our newsletter to receive family-friendly activity, recipe and craft ideas throughout the year!
One of my goals when I launched Chinese American Family was to feature the work of talented artists and designers in the community. Today I’m excited to introduce Lillian Lee and Dingding Hu, two illustrators who’ve recently created new baby and stationery products that are now available to purchase in the Shop!
Meet Lillian Lee
Boston-based illustrator and graphic designer Lillian Lee is the creator of the Empty Bamboo Girl comic, which she calls a love letter to her American born Chinese life. She’s a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art & Design and currently works for WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station. Lillian shares that she drinks way too many Americanos, watches way too many food YouTube videos, and owns way too many Hello Kitty things.
Thank you for designing new products for the Chinese American Family Shop! Please take a moment to introduce yourself to the community here.
LILLIAN LEE: I’m a designer and illustrator in Boston, where I live with my husband and baby boy. My family is originally from Hong Kong, but I was born here. We just had our baby, so a lot of what I’m doing now is informed by that. Culture has become really important to me since he was born, so I’m trying to do things that will help him know where he comes from. I’ve never spoken as much Chinese as I have since having him. I spend most of my time drawing, working on my comics and taking care of him.
You describe your comic as a “love letter to your American born Chinese life.” What do you mean by that?
LL: It’s a celebration of the food that I eat and the things I’ve grown up with — perhaps, the things I wasn’t as enthused about when I was younger or thought were weird because they weren’t how everyone else grew up. Now that I’m older, I appreciate these things more and my comic and my art reflect that. I draw the food and the small things in family life that other people can relate to, as well. Moments like my mom saying, “Don’t eat too much junk food or your qi will be off balance.”
Where do you draw inspiration for your work?
LL: From observing my family and my husband’s family really closely! Both families grew up under the same circumstances, so it’s funny to see what’s similar and what’s different between us. It’s watching my mom making the little rice ball dumplings for Mid-Autumn Festival. It’s watching my dad tending a little garden in front growing Chinese vegetables. In a way, I’m documenting them and the way I’ve grown up, the things that I appreciate and take pride in now.
Take us all through the products you’ve created for the Shop. What do you want the community to know about each of your designs?
Little Egg Tart & Little Dumpling Onesies
I hope these Little Dumpling and Little Egg Tart designs warm your heart. My baby was just born and, for some reason, I started calling him all these little dim sum names. Little pork bun. Little dumpling. He really served as inspiration for these onesies.
Mixed Fruit Cake Birthday Greeting Cards
These birthday cards are inspired by how in my husband’s family, he and his three brothers each get a Chinese bakery cake every year, no matter what. I had a lot of reference photos for this design! Shop Now »
Lucky Oranges Chinese New Year Cards
This Chinese New Year card design combines oranges and the number six to create the symbolism for prosperity, luck and good fortune. Shop Now »
I hope your designs help others celebrate their backgrounds. What are the everyday moments when you feel most connected with Chinese culture?
LL: Our weekly family dim sum brunches. They pretty much encapsulate something to look forward to, a family tradition where we experience food and warmth together. If you want more tea, you tap on the table, little things like that. It’s really all about family, so these meals symbolize it all for me.
Meet Dingding Hu
New York-based illustrator and storyteller Dingding Hu has had her designs appear everywhere from the New York Times to the Museum of Chinese in America. She’s won a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators and is the creator of the stationery collection Hu is Hungry.
Welcome to the Chinese American Family community! Please introduce yourself.
DINGDING HU: I was born and raised in mainland China and moved to the United States at the age of 22 for art school. Afterwards, I stayed in the U.S. in New York to pursue my art career. Just today, I was working on a series of illustration assets for an animation client.
How do you describe your artistic style?
DH: I think my style is modern and simple, with a vivid color palette and a lot of storytelling. I’ve developed my own unique color palette over different jobs, as well as personal taste, since I graduated from art school. And later on I realize there is much similarity between my art palette and ancient Chinese deco art on ceramics and architecture. I think it is fair to say my modern art style is unconsciously influenced by my Chinese identity, both in the storytelling as well as color palette. And the more I realize that, the more I become interested in ancient decorative and narrative Chinese art.
Where do you get inspiration for your work?
DH: I’m very interested in food, because I was raised in Sichuan, one of the most delicious provinces in China. I am also now married to someone who works in the restaurant industry. I have a vision of turning the texture, shape and color of food into simple and descriptive digital art, which also applies to my other artwork. I have developed my vision through a Tumblr called Hu is Hungry, which I created to practice my digital art craft in the early days. Later on I was able to expand the subject matter to flowers and objects, but people keep commenting on my art as tasty and juicy.
Take us through the four designs you’ve created for the Shop. What do you want readers to understand about what you’ve made?
DH: For the baby onesies, I did a lot of research about what’s out there and even asked my mom to see what’s selling in China right now. I realized that there’s not much variety out there beyond what’s just meant to be cute. That made me think about putting traditional Chinese motifs on baby onesies. I think it looks good visually and gives the baby something very Chinese to grow up in and create early memories. Baby onesies are a very Western product, so adding some traditional Chinese designs makes me feel like we’re combining two things together.
Fish and Lotus Onesie
The fish has a lot of meaning related to abundance and a fish in water has the most freedom and flexibility. The lotus is a Chinese flower that symbolizes a noble personality. Together, the fish, water and lotus are a good blessing for a baby. Shop Now »
Tiger and Rose Onesie
The tiger is about bravery. I added a rose, so that it’s about having strength and vigor inside you, while also being gentle and kind. It’s good to have both. Shop Now »
Chinese Label Art Greeting Cards
These Birthday Cards and Chinese New Year Cards are inspired by traditional Chinese label art. It’s good to give these ideas new life, because you can’t really find them outside of antique stores or second hand stores. But they’re really beautiful and well-designed.
You’ve lived in the United States now for about 8 years. What are the everyday moments when you feel most connected with Chinese culture?
DH: I live in New York, so there are a lot of good Chinese restaurants like Café China, but also Chinatown itself as a whole makes me feel connected to the culture. In New York, I feel like people genuinely appreciate Chinese culture, while growing up in China, I observe that people favor the western style! Traditional Chinese art is looked at as something that’s old and not cool. By being in New York and seeing many cool interpretations of Chinese art, it helped me rediscover my love for my own culture. I’m most interested in traditional Chinese art, especially label and packaging design, as well as ceramics. I guess I’m kind of stuck in the old world, but I really like that kind of stuff.
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Your turn! Have you checked out these new products? What inspiration do you draw from Lillian and Dingding’s experiences?
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