Little Thunder

January 9, 2018 2018年1月9日

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Little Thunder is a comic artist and illustrator whose distinctive style has led her to become one of the best-known artists in Hong Kong today. Often featuring empowered female subjects, her artworks draw inspiration from a variety of different sources, including Japanese manga, American pin-up art, and even Hong Kong’s rich cultural history. Her masterful approach to visual storytelling allows her to craft meaningful narratives even in the confines of a single frame.


Little Thunder(門小雷)是土生土长的香港漫画家和插画家。她从日本漫画、美式挂图艺术和香港的丰富历史文化中汲取灵感,创作出一系列充满力量的女性画像。加之以娴熟的视觉叙事方式,Little Thunder 让单幅的画像也营造出一种难得的叙事深度。

Little Thunder explores the theme of feminity through a mix of humor, sexuality, and observations of whimsical everyday occurrences. Describing the inspiration behind the empowered female subjects of her works, she says, “Some women have a natural air of confidence and independence. They’re really clear on what they’re doing and what they’re capable of doing, without blindly believing that, ‘Whatever men can do, women can do too!’ Men and women are different by nature, and the perceived ‘inadequacies’ of women are often some of their most attractive traits. These are the kinds of traits that fascinate me the most.”


Little Thunder 的许多作品都是通过幽默、性爱或者异想天开的日常主题来探索女性的本质。对此主题的钟爱,她解释说:“有些女性天生就有一种自信和独立。她们非常清楚自己在做什么、有能力做什么,而不是盲目地相信‘男人可以做的女人也可以做!’男人和女人天生就是不同的,有一些女性所谓的‘不足’往往是她们最吸引人的特质,也是最让我着迷的地方。”

Being also inspired by Hong Kong’s traditional culture, many of Little Thunder’s works convey a sense of nostalgia and communicates her hopes of preserving the fast-disappearing aspects of old Hong Kong. She says, “Hong Kong is developing so rapidly now; it’s copying what’s abroad or trying to appease China. It’s nonstop demolishing and rebuilding, and a lot of Hong Kong’s old architecture and history are disappearing. In terms of art and culture, it’s definitely a step back. It makes me think of how beautiful Hong Kong was when I was growing up. That’s the Hong Kong that always lingers in my memory, and now I can only express it through my art.”


香港传统文化也是她的创作灵感之一,因此,Little Thunder 的许多作品都表现出一种怀旧情绪,传达出她想要保留住这些快速消失的香港文化之愿景。她说:“香港现在发展得这么快,或在照搬国外,或在企图满足中国。到处都在拆除和重建,很多香港的老建筑和历史都正在迅速消失。在艺术和文化方面,这绝对是大退步。这让我想起了在我成长过程中所见的香港的美好,那时候的香港一直留在我的记忆里,现在我只能通过艺术来表达出来。”

In terms of how she chooses the medium for a new artwork, Little Thunder tells us, “I’ll use whatever materials I can get my hands on.” These days, she uses a lot of ink and watercolor, though she’s comfortable creating in both analog and digital mediums. Similar to her artistic approach, Little Thunder strives to maintain a fresh attitude towards life. “My inspiration comes from observation and experience in my daily life, using different perspectives to observe and avoiding the trap of viewing the familiar as ordinary or mundane. This way, I’ll naturally find inspiration everywhere.”


在艺术媒介方面,Little Thunder 表示:“一旦我开始创作的话,可能什么材料都会用上。”近期她最常用的是水墨和水彩,即使她很擅长用胶片和数媒进行创作。与之相同的是 Little Thunder 对生活一样永葆新奇的态度。“我的灵感来源于我日常生活中的观察和经验,用不同的视角来观察,避免将熟悉的事物普通或平凡化了。这样的话,我到处都能找到灵感。”

Despite the role that social media has played on her road to success, Little Thunder has mixed feelings about how our digital interconnectedness can affect creativity and artistic motivations. She says, “Drawing is a really personal thing, but now that we live in a world of social media, it makes art more complicated. The artist will be affected by other people’s opinions, how many ‘Likes’ they’ll get, or whether or not their art will really resonate, which are all things that contaminate the purity of the art. I know that it’s hard to maintain that kind of purity, but at the very least you need to understand that you are the very first viewer of any of the artwork that you create, and if it’s able to give you a positive reaction, then it’s already a success.”


Little Thunder 在网络上吸引了大批的粉丝,现在已经成为香港最著名的漫画艺术家之一。尽管社交媒体是 Little Thunder 获得成功的因素之一,但她对于数字社交对人们创造力和艺术动机的影响有着复杂的感情。她说:“绘画本是非常个人的事情。但现在我们生活在社交媒体的世界里,这让艺术变得更复杂了。艺术家会受到别人意见的影响,会关心他们能得到多少个‘赞’,或者他们的艺术是否能与观众产生共鸣?这些都会玷污艺术的纯粹。我知道,要保持这种纯粹并非易事,但至少你需要明白,你是自己的作品的第一个观众,只要你喜欢它,它就已经是一件成功的作品了。”

Instagram: @littlethunder
Facebook: ~/runthunderrun

 

Contributor: George Zhi Zhao


Instagram: @littlethunder
脸书: ~/runthunderrun

 

供稿人: George Zhi Zhao