Let me first start with a disclaimer: “To classify illustration artist So Hyeon Kim’s works as mere illustrations would be a severe understatement that could possibility get you arrested, and perhaps persecuted.”
Well, you get the drift don’t you?
With every pun intended, the message that I’m bringing across is So Hyeon Kim is by far one of the most talented artist whom I have seen, who has mixed the genres of fashion and illustration artist in such a seamless manner with tinge of magic and whimsical elements.
Hailing from South Korea, this young woman has conceptualised three folds of mixed-media stories under her belt, all chronicling around the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ literary masterpiece by Lewis Caroll, entitled “Alice’s adventure in Trump world”.
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Featuring stunning portraits of women (her versions of Alice) who are part of her fantasy world, her works paint stories of how the different versions of Alice would react to the magical realm of Trump land and world that she has been thrown into.
From bold, tough as prick Alice to a clownish one as well as a demure Alice with a girl-next-door vibe, Hyeon Kim literally puts herself in the director’s chair and re-writes the various possibilities of how the tale could turn out.
At the same time, her works also consist of artistic strokes that add up to the entire fantasy ambience and motifs in her illustrations.
Using sketching pencils for linear illustration lines, as well as watercolour and coloured pencils for rendering effect, Hyeon Kim has effectively merged the idea of creating art using traditional mediums with technological means and the usage of digital art to weave some sparkle on the atmosphere and setting of the illustration.
From flying poker cards to the owl, rainbows to Alice’s ever-pondering curiosity towards the Jack-O-Rabbit and even, the bottle of food with the words ‘Eat Me’ written on the bottle’s tag, her renditions of the tale are all packed with excitement, humour to some extent, some visual entertainment and in some instances, staying true to the story of the tale itself.
In totality, her style of work simply reminiscences that of high-fashion editorials, with the capturing the notion of fashion photography, models, framing and even channeling full punches of stories and concepts within one singular image.
Truly a case of ‘art-meets-fashion’! Consider me smitten by her illustrations!
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If you love So Hyeon Kim’s illustrations as much as we do, check out her gallery on Behance for more of her works!
COUTURE TROOPERS MAGAZINE 
Really stunning! x