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New York, New York, China, India

JUNE 4, 2013
 I recently did a couple pieces for the New York Times and the New Yorker about China and India. 
Final
Details

This image ran as the cover of yesterday's New York Times Sunday Review. The article is about the aggressive global push of China’s state-capitalism and the fear of China’s world domination. You can read the article here.

AD Aviva gave me the great suggestion of maybe having an image “dominating” the page, instead of being boxed in a rectangle.

After a couple round of sketches, we agreed that having the Great Wall expanding and covering the entire globe was the best solution for this article as it also relates to the Chinese investing in building dams and infrastructure all over the world. 

During the inking stage, I thought, why not also make the extending walls  look like monstrous tentacles? Then my boyfriend Kyle walked by and said “Your drew a Chinese Death Star!” I am okay with that. 

Many thanks again to the wonderful Aviva and the NYTimes!

Sketch
Ink drawing 17"x 17"
Photo by John Hendrix!

This image ran in the June 3 New Yorker magazine for the fiction " We didn't like him" by Akhil Sharma. The story takes place in India, surrounding a boy named Manshu, a Brahmin, who grew up becoming the pundit of the local Hindu temple. It's a really great read and I should say no more to ruin the plot. 

In between versions
This illo went through 7 final revisions. Mostly to make sure the way the Hindu idol is accurately depicted ( A couple examples shown above). The god I drew is Durga, I picked her as she's super badass-riding a tiger with many arms holding all sorts of weapons. I decided to give her a pair of badass pantaloos but the editor came back and said she needs to be wearing a sari, and shouldn't bare-chested. They were also other back and fore discussions on whether her skin should be dark or fair.etc.
A lot of the assignments I get allows me to create whatever visuals I want, fabricate an entire world if I desire. often I forget that editorial illustrators are part of journalism, and fact-checking is a crucial part in it. Although this image was for a fiction, getting the facts helped make the fictional world believable. It was a good learning experience. 
Many thanks to AD Chris Curry, who has been super patient with all my revisions and was kind enough to gave me extra bucks for them without me asking. 
© 2024 Victo Ngai