Licensing Deals Aren’t Just About Royalties
If you know my art series, Tiny Moving Place, you know it’s been a journey. Finally, a major collaboration came in. This is a big step for the series. As an ermerging artists, getting my IP licensed for products is a huge milestone. The deal works like this: the company sells the product at a […]
Southeast Asian fair owners, in one place
Two weeks ago, we did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. we invited the owners of the major illustration fairs from Manila, Singapore, and Thailand to join us in Kuala Lumpur. Usually, we only see each other when we are “running the show.” When we visit their fairs or they visit mine, […]
Why I Named Our New Company Studio Beyond
When I first started my illustration journey, I had no grand plan for a studio with a team. It was just me. So, when it came time to name that initial effort in 2015, I settled on Behind 90. The name was a direct translation of “millennial” in Chinese. Back then, the millennial movement was […]
An Illustration Studio Views on AI Art
The recent case involving Uniqlo Malaysia’s UT Me campaign with Oriental Kopi sparked a firestorm in our local creative circles. The collaboration was called out for featuring AI-generated art on their shirts, leading to public shaming of the brands for choosing an algorithm over a human illustrator especially given Oriental Kopi’s size. As a studio […]
One Year After the Joint Venture
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since Behind 90 officially embarked on a joint venture to form Studio Beyond. To call it merely a “transition” feels inadequate; it’s been an absolute transformation. When we signed the papers last year with our Hong Kong partners, I knew we were taking a huge step, […]
A Tiny Dream, Actually Moving
Just wanna journal about my personal art Tiny Moving Place as an individual artist (Book of Lai)I’ve been drawing cars for as long as I can remember, particularly the small, simple ones: the vintage Minis, the Kei cars, the ones that carry only the essentials and a massive sense of freedom. For years, this passion […]