Book Review: Have Phone, Will Paint by Zhu Hong

Have Phone, Will Paint is the artbook of Zhu Hong, a sketcher friend of mine.

You might remember 路口 朱宏小品集 (Crossroads) which is the earlier artbook of his that I reviewed before.

His second artbook features drawings he created using his mobile phone, a Samsung something.

Most of the drawings in the book are drawn on location. These drawings capture the everyday scenes around Singapore. Subjects include coffeeshops, public housing, shophouses, on the train, portraits and other places.

His style is bold, simple and slightly whimsical. For example, he told me, sometimes he would add his dog into the scene just to liven things up. The vibrant colours are those provided by the default palette on the Phone, and he uses them to great effect to compose each scene.

The artworks are visually very different from his watercolour paintings, but you can still sense the similar quirkiness in some pieces.

The book is available at SGD$29 at bookstores in Singapore.