Three Timeless Illustrators
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Prates “Pop” Songtieng

Prates Songtieng nicknamed Pop is a freelance illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. He studied fashion design in Thailand and worked in the printing and fashion industry in Bangkok, Thailand. “During breaks from work, I’d always spend time drawing because I wanted to be an illustrator since when I was younger. My mum is an art teacher and I never owned video games…my mum just gave me papers and oil pastels to play with and I enjoyed it a lot.”

When did you Leave Bangkok to pursue Illustration?
In 2010, I left my hometown in Bangkok, where I was born and raised, to New York to study and work as a part-time illustrator. I have done projects for Stubbs And Wootton, Michael Bastian, Maison Kitsuné, Karmakura Shirts Thailand as well as collaborated with Louis Vuitton Thailand.

On the balance of art and commerce.
Art, to me, is supposed to be accessible to a wider audience, hence my name, Pop, which already lives in me. My work is a combination of art and fashion especially menswear. It’s not fashion illustration because my point is not to express the details of fashion, but to enjoy the humor in it. So I always spot how people carry themselves as a signature and how it would look as a portrait. It’s very enjoyable.

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Illustrator Aaron Chang
Korean, 34 years old

Chang makes it clear that illustration is not his main job, he is a brand designer who majored in commercial design, UX/UI and fashion advertising.
His beautiful illustrations are a hobby and a product of his love of fashion and prep/Ivy style to be exact. He credits his current style of personal illustrations as the result of discovering Scott Schuman’s Sartorialist website, the Pitti Uomo trade show and the iconic Japanese authored book on Ivy league style  “Take Ivy”.

“When I was in University, Scott Schumann’s Sartorialist site and instagram was a big trend. I was a huge fan of his. For a while, I wore a tie and took a camera to class. I also loved Pitti uomo and the street style photography-It was fantastic. There were rollmodels such as Nick Wooster and Takahiro Kinoshita that I wanted to be like. I was looking for fashion photos and history, and came across a book called Take Ivy. I instantly became a fan of Ivyleague culture and style, which in my opinion is the basis of American menswear”.

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Illustrator Florian Kremers from Wiesbaden, Germany, graduated with a degree in graphic design and then worked as a freelancer specializing in illustration.

On his style of Illustration: 
My style is inspired by vintage advertising and cartoons. I always work with bold outlines and a reduced color palette to achieve an old school feel. My other interest is in vintage menswear so I called my instagram menswear_illustration. I dress the characters in my illustration as I would dress myself too. So I blend workwear, sportswear and tailoring. Always a cap and high waisted pants. Music and dancing is also a big influence. From 1920s jazz and blues to punkrock. It’s all about the energy and less about nostalgia. My approach is to take interesting things from the past (music, fashion and design) but leave the ugly bits behind. 

Work experience: 
I’ve worked for several small independent brands as well as retailers all over europe who offer rugged menswear.
My work experience include work for A Piece of Chic, One Round Jack, Vecona Vintage, Simon James Cathcart, Bolt London.
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