WEEK 26
This week, I'm excited to introduce Belinda Kou as our guest teacher!
Belinda is a Taiwanese American lettering artist and illustrator based in Chicago. Often drawing inspiration from food, she creates pieces filled with color, energy, and humor.
Her journey began in biopsychology (of all things!). After a few career changes, she quit her job in 2019 to freelance and has had the pleasure of working with clients like NPR, Adobe, Nespresso, and Coach.
Belinda’s mission is to use her art to inspire and delight others, and to help new lettering artists pursue a creative path they love. Outside of work, you can find her checking out restaurants with her husband and two girls.
From Belinda:
While many of us were trying out new recipes and baking yummy things during the pandemic, I was not (I don’t like to cook).
Instead, I was struggling with work/life balance with kids at home, testing out “idea recipes” in the desperate pursuit of a creative outlet.
I decided to take inspiration from my kids and combine fairy tales with food lettering. Once I mixed in my goal to work on book cover projects with a desire to experiment with color, I had the ingredients for a new project! (PS it’s since led to some new opportunities )
“Hungrily Ever After” is a series of colorful book cover art that puts a foodie twist on fairy tales. Filled with puns and parodies, it aims to stir up a mix of hunger, humor, and nostalgia. You can see all 18 pieces here.
The possibilities are endless when you start remixing seemingly different ideas together. Like how chefs can add exciting twists to classic dishes, what kind of new twists can you add to classic stories? Rather than lettering popular quotes, how can you infuse your own unique spin?
Your assignment: Pick your favorite fairy tale and design a book cover for it with a foodie twist!
Thought Starters: Write down a fairytale quote that comes to mind. Then try to swap a word or two with something food related. For example:
Snow White’s “Who’s the fairest of them all?” becomes “Who’s the hungriest of them all?”
The Little Mermaid’s “I want to be where the people are” becomes “I want to be where the cookies are.”
“Beauty and the Beast” becomes “Beauty and the Feast”
Resources:
Mockup template: If you’d like to take it a step further and share your design in a mockup, this is the template I used for my series!
RhymeZone: Got your quote but not sure how to spin it? Try replacing a word with something that rhymes. It’s fun (and funny) to see what you can come up with!
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Don’t forget to use the hashtags #HOMwork2021 & tag @belindaskou and @homsweethom when you post your work. We’ll both be sharing our favorites in our Stories all week. We’re so egg-cited to see what you share!
x Belinda & Lauren
P.S. Are you considering freelance? Sign up for Belinda’s newsletter and get a FREE checklist of what you need to get started.
