Drawn to Life
Six of Hong Kong’s leading comics—or manhua—artists tell Evelyn Lok about the highs and lows of the industry and of their love of storytelling.
Lai Tat Tat Wing
"Never pick what you love most as your job."
HK Magazine: How did you get into comics?
Lai Tat Tat Wing: I’ve been reading comics since I was in primary two or three, and doodling too. Back then we were poor and the house was cramped. I killed a lot of time copying from Japanese comics. I learned that there was some form of hidden logic behind the way comics were laid out.
HK: Why do you love drawing comics?
LTTW: I enjoy longer stories, slowly seeing a story play out, how it’s twisted, noticing how actions are organized, how the characters are introduced and how a theme is developed.
HK: Where do you find inspiration?
LTTW: I really admire the work of [director] Akira Kurosawa. For instance the way he adapted Shakespeare into the world of Japanese samurai, without creating conflict with Japanese culture. In film, a director decides how long a scene lasts and the atmosphere, music and all that. But comics are different. The pacing is decided by the reader themselves. How do you manipulate the squares in a comic to control tension and time?
