Celine Ka Wing Lau’s absurd scenes are sure to put a smile on your face

Colourful, bold and funny, these illustrations are a remedy for melancholy.

Date
25 September 2023

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At the heart of all of Celine Ka Wing Lau’s illustrations are “emotions and feelings”. Describing herself as “not being great with words”, she instead uses her sunny illustrations to convey herself. Bringing her great happiness, contentment, and providing a form of therapy, Celine wants her practice to serve a similar purpose for others, hoping to brighten someone’s day with her creations.

Each of Celine’s pieces begins in the same way. With both music and TV show playing, she outlines her preliminary concepts – which tend to be pretty absurd (see large cats snoozing on rooftops and eggs petting dogs) – with pencils and markers before enhancing them digitally. Though Celine’s favourite part of the creative process is selecting her colour palette – the bolder the better. Her style is one she sees as heavily informed by René Magritte, for his “unfamiliar and unexpected context”, and Keith Haring, the first artist Celine recalls deeply admiring, his bright colours and black lines having a “lasting impact” on her vision.

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CelineLKW: Neighbourhood (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Discombulated (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Bonsai (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Live Life Breezy (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Bonsai (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Swell (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2022)

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CelineLKW: Daruma (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Tennis Season (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Loving Yourself (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2022)

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CelineLKW: Still Here Still Life (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Still Here Still Life (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Road Trip (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2023)

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CelineLKW: Messy (Copyright © CelineLKW, 2020)

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About the Author

Olivia Hingley

Olivia (she/her) joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in November 2021 and soon became staff writer. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh with a degree in English literature and history, she’s particularly interested in photography, publications and type design.

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