IN CONVERSATION WITH

Lena Yokoyama & David Huang: Postcards from Marseille to Elsewhere

Lena and David have a unique friendship that spans the Atlantic. Based in London and New York City respectively, they draw together online and share a love for travel. Both commercial illustrators by day – Lena has been part of Grand Matter for a number of years, with David joining us in 2023 as part of our annual Future Makers roster – they also place a strong emphasis on self-initated work to explore and further their individual practices. 

Their latest collaboration, Postcards from Marseille to Elsewhere, is a collection of observational drawings on paper, exhibited at the much-loved Peckham Pelican in South London, bringing their work together into the same physical space for the first time. Created throughout July to September 2023, they each offer up little snapshots of their daily lives in their surroundings – Lena during her summer in Marseille, and David across his time in New York City, Taipei, and San Francisco. 

Reflecting on this artistic exchange, Lena and David explore their experiences drawing from observation, examining what this enables and unlocks, and how projects like this ultimately enrich their commerical work.  

When drawing, I feel like I’m really looking, and taking in all the small details that make up a place. It’s my way of remembering the small things in life.

– Lena Yokoyama

David Huang: What are the charms of the city of Marseille that draw you in?

Lena Yokoyama: Marseille is an incredible place, it’s got the charm of the south of France, which is very laid back and chill, but at the same time is bustling full of people from all over the world, with an amazing creative scene. I used to live in the south of France as a child, not very far from Marseille, so spending my summer there felt a bit like a homecoming. I got to revisit places I remember from my childhood, meet up with old school friends and relive some of the experiences I made back then, which was lovely because I now get to commemorate them in my drawings. 

David: How do your observational drawings affect the way you approach your editorial illustrations or personal pieces? 

Lena: Good question! I think drawing from life gives me a better understanding of the world, the way people behave, what they wear, their personalities and their facial expressions. When I then approach personal or commercial work, the visual bank of images I acquire during observational drawing, naturally flows into whatever work I create from imagination. So in a sense, keeping up a continuous practice of drawing from life, is vital for me to generate ideas and make them come easy and naturally.

David: Both of us travel so much. Does drawing from observation change the way you remember things whent travelling? And is there another place in the world you’d like to go to draw?

Lena: Definitely, I feel like there’s nothing like drawing that makes me experience a situation is that much depth. When drawing, I feel like I’m really looking and taking in all the small details that make up a place, from how the window blinds are shaped, the type of cars people drive, to what food people enjoy in particular parts of the world. It’s my way of remembering the small things in life, which I feel I’d just forget if I hadn’t captured them visually. Creating these drawings was like keeping a visual diary for me, which I can now use to tell people about my experiences. Having the show at the Pelican at the moment, has led to so many nice conversations with people who had pointed out particular drawings and asked me about the stories attached to them, which I could then recount really easily because the images hold so much information for me. Every stroke was a conscious decision I made at the time, about what information was important to include to convey the essence of a moment, so I feel very connected to each one of the drawings. 

For my next trip, I’m actually going to Mexico early next year, where I’m hoping to work on a similar project as this one. I think it will be an amazing way to get to know a place I’ve never been to and hopefully record a bunch of new memories in my drawings.  

I first fell in love with drawing the buildings I grew up with in Taipei – they have these window frames that are super geometric and repetitive, and I love the pattern they make.

– David Huang 

Lena: I know that so much of your work is done from your imagination, what was it like drawing purely from observation?

David: I used to do a lot of observational drawings back in university and then stopped. So it definitely feels weird to restart again. It’s hard to find the right balance between stylization of forms and depicting earnestly what is in front of you, and a lot of that just comes from practice. I hope in the future I can close that gap between my observational drawing and my imaginative drawings, and they can feed into each other in a seamless way.

Lena: I found that I learnt a lot about the architecture of a different country when doing all these drawings, did you find that as well? Do you enjoy drawing buildings in New York as much as in Taipei?

David: Yeah, I definitely learned a lot, each city has its own styles of buildings and they all follow a specific system which I find to be fascinating. In my own practice, architecture has been a significant subject of inspiration for a while now, and it’s one of my favorite things to draw actually. I first fell in love with drawing the buildings I grew up with in Taipei – they have these window frames that are super geometric and repetitive, and I love the pattern they make when seen from afar. The New York buildings are also charming, such as a brownstone or an exterior of a storefront, but I guess they hold less sentimental value for me. All in all, I find them all super fun to draw.

Lena: You work really quickly, producing your whole series in probably a quarter of the time it took me to produce mine. How do you do it?!

David: Oh well I also think you had a lot more pieces than me! I gave myself a goal of making one drawing per night, and there’s a lot of pictures and inspirations I have that I was really eager to get onto paper. When I start drawing, I usually just put on a podcast and go into autopilot mode.

Lena: How was it for you to co-organize an exhibition from abroad? Did you enjoy the process? And are you happy with the result?

David: It’s a great learning experience! I haven’t done a show with anyone before, nor have I exhibited a lot in the past, so this was very new to me. I think the experience of organizing this show helped me stayed in touch with you, as well as keeping my memories of London alive. I really miss London and the Peckham Pelican, the whole experience of showing my drawing there made me feel like I was there as well! 

David: How does it feel seeing my physical travel drawings being sent across the Atlantic?

Lena: It’s been fun to collaborate with you from abroad. Because we draw together a lot, it seems like we’re never very far apart, even though we literally live an ocean apart from each other. We usually share our work digitally, however, receiving your work in physical form felt even more special this time. It really feels like a little piece of you is with me here in the UK.

David: My last question is, are there days when you feel unmotivated to draw or approach your sketchbook? If so, how do you find ways to go back to it with the same excitement?

Lena: There are definitely days when I feel like I should be creative because I have a deadline, but my brain can’t generate any ideas. That feeling is quite frustrating and over the years, I’ve become better in dealing with it, or I've found little techniques to help me push through that feeling. The most helpful way to combat a creative block for me is actually working on personal projects like the one I made in Marseille. Since I’m drawing from life, I’m not the one having to come up with the ideas. I just have to look and record. It’s a very manual and straight forward process, which naturally gets me into a state of flow, where I start enjoying the simple act of putting marks down on paper. Being in that process, then naturally leads me to be excited about drawing again and it’s often followed by new ideas for other projects. Of course, there’s not always time to work on a whole personal project, but in general, keeping up a sketchbook that is dedicated to observational drawings, has been a very consistent tactic for me to keep up the excitement about drawing. 

How about you, do you have days where you feel unmotivated to draw?

David: Of course I do! And to be honest I don’t always have the same excitement when I start the drawing, it’s always going to be a factor I can’t control. So I just have to disciplined on those days when I’m feeling unmotivated and just go for it. I would say though, I usually start getting quite invested and excited half way through when I can start imagining what the final image will look like on the paper.

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'Postcards from Marseille to Elsewhere' runs 5 - 25 October 2023, at the Peckham Pelican in London. 

www.grandmatter.com/lenayokoyama
www.grandmatter.com/davidhuang

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