Portfolio Review: 'New York Reservations' With Sophia Chang

Image via Complex Original

Generalizations aside, when you're from Flushing, Queens., certain truths apply — The Mets are your team, Large Professor is your idol and you frequent all the best Asian joints around Main St. If there's one girl who could attest to this, it's designer/illustrator Sophia Chang, the next big staple here in NYC. 

Just a few years ago, Sophia was interning at Complex while pursuing a degree at Parsons School of Design. After completing her formal education, Sophia has worked as a commercial freelancer, including work for legendary NYC streetwear designer, Jeff Staple.

One of the city's rising young creatives, Sophia Chang continuously makes us proud with every move she makes. Her current illustrations for Staple Designs have been well received and her recent collaboration with Anthony Bourdain and the Travel Channel is a tremendous testament to all she's accomplished. 

Join us as we take a look at Sophia Chang's Portfolio Review and read what she has to say about her artistic process and her come up.

No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain - Poster Series

"I received this project through a friend of mine who had introduced my work to Anthony Bourdain's manager. I was asked to do one illustration for free. I was hesitant at first but I decided to go for it anyway. It ended up getting blasted on Twitter and Facebook and the next thing I know, the Travel Channel is hitting me up asking if we could arrange a contract for me to create illustrations for each of his upcoming episodes for the entire season.

It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. I also learned that if I hadn't taken this one gig for free, the world may never have been able to see my art the way that they have. I took a leap of faith and it paid off." 

John Strickland - (Staple Designs) NIKE 'Franchise' Book

"Staple had helped produce a book for NIKE called Franchise. The book pays tribute to a lot of NYC basketball and streetball players and I was asked to create a portrait of John Strickland. Strickland was a NYC legend who passed away in October 2010. I drew the portrait and found some inspiring references from WTT to incorporate into the piece." 

Staple Designs - Coming to America 

"This was one of my first projects for Staple. I was contributing to their Spring/Summer '11 graphic tee collection. During that time, I had just watched Coming to America for the first time and I also just moved to Woodside. It's right by Queens Blvd and I just really got into it. It's also one of the first times I experimented with this style in my work. I'm going to be producing these into prints to be sold at Reed Space." 

Bao Haus

"Eddie Huang and I are friends who happen to love rap. We both wanted to collaborate on something for his restaurant and came up with a list of song lyrics we could incorporate into his Bao Haus menu. It's a fun mix of both our personalities."

Nate Dog / Amy Winehouse - Tribute

"These two works are personal projects of mine. I grew up listening to Nate Dogg and enjoyed Amy Winehouse a lot. It's really unfortunate that we lost them. This was me experimenting with different materials and techniques. I used brush and ink and then I'd color them on the computer."

Undefeated- Indianhead Jacket 

"I was interning with designer Peter Chung. He also goes by the name, Cool Calm Pete. I was with Pete for two years and helped out with graphics for aNYthing and Undefeated. Pete was the major art director for these works but we used a lot of my input and contributions in the design. It was really cool to see our artwork in stores."