Debby Woo

At first I just wrote about what I learnt from going through my first breakup, I suppose that one heartbreak can give you an endless amount of inspiration and since I like to draw and was majorly into design, I started drawing illustrations. Almost like my own personal journal, the drawings represented the things I wouldn't write. I like my illustrations to represent a discussion of love, the little things that bother us in relationships, I find this kind of pain interesting.

When I was kid I was really into collaging and diary writing, stuff that you can find from books that essentially teach you how to make a pretty diary or photo book. I think my style has slowly evolved ever since internet appeared, as I didn’t really follow any particular artist or style. Recently I have been into Ukiyo-e (浮世繪) and traditional Chinese drawings.

Before not really, I have been writing about relationships for a few years on media now, but I focused more on portrait and daily life with my current drawings, and it wasn’t until last year that I published my second book – Debby Woo's Handbook for Healing a Broken Heart – in which I talk about insecurities in loving relationships, so I did a series of illustrations for that.

My latest project is called Asian Girl Insecure, it’s an extension from my book, and I have always wanted to draw the people that I’ve been following for a while on the internet. However, doing singlehanded portraits doesn’t interest me, so I did an interview with four girls from Instagram; where I gave them a list of questions about their current relationship, how they feel when going through break ups and what makes them feel safe and insecure and so on. Since it was a project based through the internet, I also asked them what software they use the most and asked them to screen shot their screens. I then finished the series by illustrating their computer screens to delve into their likes and dislikes and to allow followers to get an insight into who they really are.

I would say I am trying to shape the atmosphere rather than form a message. There are usually multiple abstract scenarios going on in one drawing, so the overall message is a collection of things; but from the use of different tonal colours, you can feel the different situations within love.

The four girls are John Yuyi (Taiwanese artist), Xue Chen (art school student and model from China), Ju Ho (Taiwanese model) and Lauren Tsai (Japanese actress). Firstly, I find them very attractive and I love their personal style. Secondly, I was intrigued by the way they represented themselves in social media and I felt there was an interesting story behind each girl. I could tell that they weren’t just ‘young and cool’. The answers they gave me became elements of inspiration for me to finish my initial drawings. Therefore, it was essential that I picked girls that had substance to their personalities and had a deeper level of that I could investigate. I also tried to find distinctive girls so that I would have contrasting results.

They all said yes within one day, I still feel lucky that they agreed to collaborate with me, without them I wouldn’t have finished this project.

Each illustration reproduces what they each told me in their interviews, the drawings act as visor to their thoughts and feelings. They all gave answers from a different perspective. For example, John Yuyi said she has 0% security in relationships, and Ju Ho said sometimes she is not that confident when faced with her loved one. However, Xue Chen explained that she just didn’t feel insecure and that she would rather focus on herself more and Lauren Tsai said she is “emotionally invested” in her current relationship. You can see these answers unfold within the detail of the drawings. I later noticed that there is a correlation between the amount that someone dresses and their security levels.

I always say to my friends that you can basically see my life through my Instagram or Facebook, so I will say yes, it definitely does have a huge impact on me, and my work too. I find myself often drawing things like computer windows, screens and software. I think through this demand with technology people can feel more and understand situations much faster.

The Asian girls I have spoken about here are not a representation of all Asian girls, or the ‘Asian girl look’. I am definitely focusing on more of a cultural perspective, and growing up in an Asian culture has some differences. What I have noticed with friends and myself is that, when in relationships we are too ‘polite’ (or nervous) to talk about our feelings or something that bothers us.
We prefer guessing the answer rather than asking or talking to the person, and that’s where these insecurities start to arise. However, this doesn’t mean that we are always insecure or never communicate, just a lot less compared to other cultures. Yet I think this painful feeling has been influenced from trying to understand all the lyrics in love songs – which I love!