Victo Ngai

About

Victo Ngai, born in Hong Kong in 1988, is a renowned digital illustrator currently based in Los Angeles. As the only child of middle-class parents—her father in finance and her mother in roles including professor of Chinese literature, newspaper editor, and investment manager—she spent much of her childhood alone due to her parents' long work hours and frequent family moves. Drawing became her solace, where she created characters and stories, fostering her early interest in line work influenced by Asian arts, including Japanese woodblock prints. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2010, the only school she applied to, studying editorial illustration under mentor Chris Buzelli, whose connections helped build her portfolio with publications like The New Yorker and The New York Times before graduation.

Stylized, decorative, whimsical with strong linear quality, vigorous contrasts, flat subdued colors, and influences from Asian arts and Japanese woodblock prints