Yiu Kwok is a very talented jeweller living in Hong Kong who expresses what he has to say through a weekly comic strip called ‘S.e.n.t.i.m.e.n.t.s’. In his strip Yiu touches on parallels between everyday life in the east and the west.
Occasionally it’s commentary, sometimes it’s scathing, funny and usually satirical Yiu’s ‘S.e.n.t.i.m.e.n.t.s’ touches upon many day to day occurrences that the reader will often relate to and sometimes find that they are laughing at themselves for being guilty for some of the subjects Kwok touches on.
Yiu describes himself as privileged because he “has lived and study in both East Asia and North America. I am like a bridge between different cultural dialogues;’, and has this to say of his parallels between eastern and western life: “The strips, although satirical, shows some of the parallels of the East and West. It also serve to reflects some of the concerns and reality of our time.”
Given his experience he is the perfect person to draw these parallels. Originally training as a high school art teacher, Yiu left dissatisfied with the environment. But he continued to produce art, developing his skills as both an artist and a cartoonist.
“My foundational art skills are self-discipline. Art is a mental skill set. No school can teach you how to make art.” He says “They can demonstrate how to, the procedures and steps in schools, but it is the artist that must train themselves artistically and intellectually. Artists don’t work with their hands, but with their heads.” And given the sharp view Yiu takes of the world in his comic strips he certainly practices what he says. The strips have clean line drawn characters with technical backgrounds that Yiu balances expertly between foreground and background.
While readers can enjoy the strip as it is, the artistic quality will draw anyone looking in for a closer look. The line work is masterful and his composition is brilliantly placed so nothing feels cramped or cluttered. It is very easy to see everything without feeling rushed as you look through the panels. The shading is also brilliantly used so there’s enough to give depth and feel without weighing the strip down. One look at Yiu’s amazing jewellery shows the depth of skill and ability that he possesses.
In case you were wondering ‘S.e.n.t.i.m.e.n.t.s’ is not an acronym for anything, it’s a typography element for effect.
Yiu Kwok is a man with things to speak about, who uses his weekly cartoon strip as his outlet to express himself, and plans to go on doing so as long as he feels he has something to say. When I asked him about his plans for his plans for ‘S.e.n.t.i.m.e.n.t.s’ he said “To keep going, I like to say I try today in order to see what happens tomorrow.” Seemingly simple words that carry a lot of underlying meaning from a man with a passion for the life he sees around him.
You can follow Yiu Kwok’s comic strip ‘S.e.n.t.i.m.e.n.t.s’ on his blog
John Goodale is the author of ‘Johnny Gora’ (available through Amazon.com), and a number of articles here on TMRZoo.com. His monthly column ‘Indy Comics Spotlight’ appears here and through his blog Indy Comics Spotlight
