Meet the illustrator behind our brush collab with CHIKUHODO

For our Lunar New Year Brush collaboration with CHIKUHODO, we tapped illustrator mochichito to create the Year of the Pig design on the handle. (You might recognize her work from 2018’s Lucky Bags). Read on to learn more about her work and inspiration, and make sure to shop the Lunar New Year Brush before it sells out.

Tell us about yourself. What are your likes and dislikes? What’s a random fact about yourself?

My name is Steph Fung (known as mochichito online). I’m a graphic designer and illustrator based in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, but I’m moving to Southern California in February! I love kawaii illustration and animation, typography, flat design, handmade crafts, music, fashion, and anything that bears the name “cute”. I dislike creepy crawlies! Random fact: I have a yellow teddy bear from my childhood named Little Bear who travels with me everywhere I go.

How did you get into graphic design and illustration? Were you always interested in art?

Yes! In school, I loved drawing in notebooks when I should have been taking notes. And when I did take notes, I would always envy other people’s beautiful handwriting and try to mimic them. I think that’s where my fondness for illustration and typography came from. I took art classes through high school and went on to study Graphic Design and Digital Media in college.

How would you describe your style? What are your influences?

I would probably describe my style as kawaii cute! I always try to have fun with word play or convey a fun idea or concept in my art. I love bright colors (but also pastel), animals, and cute faces (is that weird?). I’m very much influenced by anime, stationery and lovely packaging, fashion, music, and other people’s art—there is so much to see at your fingertips these days. I find a new artist or maker to fall in love with practically everyday.

What are your favorite things to draw?

My favorite things to draw are animals, plants, flowers, and imaginary creatures. Sometimes I like drawing cute foods. I’m also working on incorporating more people into my illustrations.

How did you come up with the design for the Lunar New Year brush?

Since the design was for the Lunar New Year, I knew I wanted to include a moon. 2019 is the Year of the Pig, so I thought making a large, gleaming moon as the pigs' playground would be so cute. Incorporating some floral elements into the design would add some soft, delicate touches to frame the scene.

What’s the story behind the design?

The story behind the design is really up to the viewer! I wanted to keep it kind of open-ended. You could think of the pigs as two lovers, a mama or papa pig and their piglet, or just two frolicking friends.

Have you ever designed a brush handle before? What was different about the process?

This was my first time designing a brush handle. It was definitely different from anything I’ve worked on in the past. I had to keep in mind the shape and curvature of the brush and make sure all of the important parts of the artwork would be seen from the front of the brush, but also how I might continue the artwork around the sides and back of the brush, while also keeping in mind how it would photograph.

Where can we find more of your artwork?

You can find more of my art on Instagram at instagram.com/mochichito, in my online web shop at mochichito.com, in my Etsy shop at mochichito.etsy.com, or at my graphic design portfolio site at stephf.com. Thank you!

See mochichito’s Year of the Pig design on the Beautylish x CHIKUHODO Lunar New Year Brush.