dearmacherie (Cherie Lee)

Dear Ma Chérie, or simply Cherie is a visual storyteller interested in projects with strong narratives, specialising in concept art, character design and editorial work. She has created and taken part in multiple zines by herself and through collaboration opportunities, creating concept art for film and game-related projects. Cherie is able to create highly atmospheric pieces with dynamic use of perspective and dramatic lighting with her illustration skills. Inspired by stories from her childhood, her work is packed with references to Chinese culture, classic literature and mythology; allowing her to add layers of mystery and intrigue to the worlds she illustrates, immersing viewers into her work.

The projects she has worked on often have ties to raising awareness and education, examples of this include her most recent zine ‘Dyslexia In Hong Kong 2’ and her history-based jigsaw ‘A Jigsaw Worth A Hundred Years’. Cherie also co-founded a collaborative zine project with her classmate Anaab, known as Pigeonhole Illustrations, which focuses on sharing people’s stories and experiences relating to contemporary topics.

Clocked In – An illustration Cherie created for Pigeonhole Illustrations based on a doctor's experience of owning a private clinic in Hong Kong during the pandemic.

New Words – A haunting piece from Cherie's 'Dyslexia In Hong Kong 2' zine, about the fear and anxiety of being asked to read aloud in class, alongside the difficulty of learning new words as a dyslexic student.

The Exam Room – Another piece from Cherie's zine 'Dyslexia In Hong Kong 2' about the feelings of alienation being a dyslexic student in an exam room.

The Local Café – Concept art Cherie illustrated for an animated show she created for her dissertation, which was about the problems of overusing localisation.

Flutter By – What started as a challenge to create a piece based on butterflies, Cherie created this piece based on a Chinese philosophical text 'The Butterfly Dream'.