As a child, I wanted to become an illustrator before even thinking of becoming a firefighter.

Distracted by graphic design and my bicycle, though, it took a while to get to draw for a living. In 2003 I started getting my work published regularly in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, which I continue to illustrate for.

For the newspaper I need to draw quickly—deadlines are often very tight. Therefore the drawings are all made straight on computer; I work much faster this way than if I were using paper, paint and brushes. However, I don’t make my life easy with the styles I choose—oil like paintings, woodcut, cross-hatching—which are usually rather time consuming techniques. A lot of my illustrations are black and white, in accordance with the pages I draw for.

I very rarely draw from reference photographs, sticking to the process of mental representation children use to build pictures. This often results in an odd kind of realism.

As you'll see, my work is informed by a variety of influences. These include: classic portrait paintings; Mexican Exvotos; Chinese contemporary art; highly narrative, sensationalist people’s press from the 40's depicting crime scenes; pompous black and white photography. I like pictures with a lot of density, attention to details and a certain carelessness with proportions.