Cara Wang - Comic Illustrator, New York

Drawing in a style that is natural, naïve and fun, Cara Wang is a New York-based illustrator whose works capture the feeling and fabric of everyday life with charm and innocence. The forms she creates are quirky, the proportions and perspectives improbable, but using characters, colours and textures the meaning and emotion shine through.

Cara’s inspiration comes from a fascinating source. Growing up in Guangzhou, China, her grandmother used to take her to the countryside to honour their ancestors. Where her grandmother once worked the salt fields, Cara saw bright patterns across the landscape, with oxen-drawn ploughs and farmers in clothes splodged with dirt and salt. This gave Cara her earliest notions of mark making and the idea of transporting viewers to different worlds. The beauty of this story continues in illustrations imbued with sensory elements – mainly evoked through Cara’s unique application of texture and pattern. The motion of cars and people, the scents and sounds of the city, and the candy-coloured clothing of New Yorkers today give Cara further inspiration, following the completion of her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Approach

Cara collects the textures of everyday life, from a grandmother’s dress to crumpled paper to trees and flowers. She sketches in Procreate, then works in pencil on paper, adding colour and texture in Photoshop to finish the image.

Key software

Procreate, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign.

Style

Naïve, authentic and full of nuance, Cara’s work connects us to the real world in unexpected ways. Full of detail and hidden meaning, her dramatic compositions range from the conventional to the unexpected.

Languages

English, Mandarin, Cantonese.

Client list

Cara’s clients include Starbucks, Huawei, New York Times, Washington Post, Elle Men, PlanAdviser, AARP, China’s Book Review, Highlights Magazine, Brio Magazine, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Tomorrow Publication, PuzPlaz Puzzle, Forest Child Clothing, M&G Stationary Inc, Steel Rolling Film, DIMO Music Studio