@Dongsbrain
Mandong is an original character built around a self-portrait — lazy, goofy, and honest about it. Starting as a personal illustration practice on social media, the project grew into a full range of physical products: art prints, postcards, sticker packs, washi tape, tote bags, ceramic mugs and die-cut stickers — all designed, produced and sold directly to the public at the Hong Kong Illustration Fair. Moving from screen to shelf meant learning the full production pipeline: print specifications, material decisions, bleed tolerances and the particular discipline of making something someone would actually want to own.
The approach
Mandong was a character that I created back in the Uni days. It has been my favourite project and where I found joy the most because the most interesting subject to draw is usually myself specifically the version I don't put in a commercial world.
The character captures small, quirky, recognisable moments e.g. the long day after work, the lazy afternoon, the mild existential pause. The shift from posting online to selling at a public fair came from wanting the work to exist in the world rather than just on a feed — something a stranger could pick up, laugh at, and take home.
Postcard series - Long Day.
Hong Kong Illustration Fair
The Hong Kong Illustration and Creative Show is one of the city's largest gatherings of independent illustrators and creative practitioners, bringing together artists selling original work and printed products directly to a public audience.
It started with conceptualising which Mandong moments would translate into products people would actually want to buy. From there, deciding the product range: what formats made sense (prints scale well, washi tape has a specific collector audience in HK, tote bags travel), what price points worked for a fair environment, and how many units to produce. Working directly with print suppliers on specifications meant getting into the detail, from bleed settings, colour profiles across different materials, to managing minimum order quantities finish options.
The booth itself required the same attention: layout, signage, hand-lettered price cards, and the Mandong logo board that anchored the whole display. Selling my own work in person to strangers is a different kind of feedback from social media likes. I found out quickly which pieces people reach for first, which ones they look at but don't buy, and which ones make them stop walking. That live audience response shaped which characters and moments I developed further because the fair told me things an engagement metric never could.
