Pris Pong

I was one of those typical kids who loved drawing. In high school, while everyone was thinking about studying finance or becoming doctors for secure career paths, my first ambition was opening a candy store. [Laughs] It’s very random. I drew drafts of the interior design, thought about how to market it, the packaging, and all that stuff made me really happy. All of a sudden, I thought, “What if I can make money with my drawings?” It would be cool for drawing to be both my passion and what I earn for a living.

When I was young, I hoped to have a career like this. It’s not easy to pursue this path, but the people along the way gave me confidence to keep going, even if it’s a small step.

Before freelancing, I was at an advertising agency. I was a designer at Bravos doing movie posters and video editing for trailers. At that time, the advertising culture was tense. I got off work every morning at 3 or 4 AM. It was my first job after graduation and I didn't see my parents for a long time. I didn't even have a meal with them for a few months. After 4 months of this schedule, I quit.

The Moonzen Brewery project back in 2018 was a turning point. Back then I didn’t have a job, I stayed home the whole year. I was drawing every day: I wake up, I draw and draw and eat and sleep and draw. I drew one piece about Moonzen [門神], a door guardian in Chinese culture. A friend tagged this piece to Moonzen Brewery on Instagram when I posted it, and that’s how I got my first official illustration freelance job. That’s when I realized, “Oh I can earn money with my own style of illustration.”

Another project I got to work on was for Hong Kong Museum of History’s 2-year temporary exhibition titled ‘Recreating a Classic: The Best Features of the Hong Kong Story'. I was responsible for the illustrations; the curating was already decided by the museum. I researched old places in Hong Kong, visited a lot of 茶餐廳 [cha chaan teng], and looked at historical weapons. We used a black and white stroke style because the space is small, so we wanted to keep all the essence aligned in one theme of "Hong Kong's story."

It was difficult at the beginning because they didn't allow me to draw on the site. I had to create big drawings digitally, but it had to look like a painting on walls. Every day we did testing, especially on line art styles. It was like boom boom boom, 4 months non-stop, day and night drawing.

Freelance takes discipline. It’s a contrast to what I am naturally because I'm random and spontaneous. But if you’re your own boss you can’t be like this, or else you have no money. [Laughs] When you’re freelancing, you’ve got to get yourself out there and meet people not only for jobs or careers, but to build authentic connections. What you build before starting your freelance journey connects everything after.

I never intentionally want to put my style in every work I do. But everything has me in bits of it - that’s what my clients and friends told me. There are 2 types of artists: one is bold and only wants their style; the other is more like a craftsmanship artist.

I think I'm the craftsmanship artist. I don't want everything to “taste” like me. I want my work tailor-made for each project. It’s one of my passions about art — not having one style that fits all, but generating different styles and creativity in different briefs. I'm not intentionally fitting my style in everything, but my vibes somehow are in the work. Sometimes it annoys me because I want to get rid of that, but it stays there.

I've become friends with one of my favorite local artists in Hong Kong, Terence Choi. He draws yokai and monstrous style works. We had a group exhibition together and he was exhibiting his mountain series. I was happy to meet him as a fan. Since then, we became friends and he invited me to another group show with AYip, and then we had the exhibition about Dante’s Inferno last year.

It was a huge career impact because I started to get to know more about the art world and how to make an independent exhibition. When we were planning how to curate and market the show, they gave me advice and introduced me to friends, which changed my path a lot.

When you have a lot of things in your mind, you want to express it in your own way — first shut your mind and listen.

Listen to what your clients, your exhibitors are trying to tell you. When you keep their words and ideas in mind rather than trying to force your own, better things can come up. This year, my exhibition with the hospital authority organ donation was the first exhibition to show who the donor families are.

In the past, it wasn’t ethically appropriate to show who the donor families were. But Queen Elizabeth's Hospital changed this insight. They wanted people to know: What is their story? Why did their families want to give their organs to the people in need? I learned to let go of only following my curating vision and created an exhibition together with the donor families, volunteers, and the medical staff.

It was inspiring. When you let go of the process and not hold onto what you want, but initiate the process with other participants, it makes things better than what one brain can think of. Maybe people who are experienced always have an ego on things. But along the way, you'll realize it's more of a barrier.

I love the project because the donor families made origami flowers together, and we’d stack them on the exhibition site. They wrote things in their mind, like their thoughts about their past, families and the thankfulness they have when they receive the donations. It connects the community. It's not only the exhibition, but the process that makes it beautiful.

One last piece of advice I have is pretty cliche, but I’d say you are ready. I always thought that I'm not good enough or I'm not ready yet. But you're never not ready. You're ready any time. So don’t hesitate and don’t doubt yourself. Do what you want.

Everything is ready for you at this moment.