Decue Wu — Fashion & Lifestyle Illustrator, Los Angeles

Decue is the pseudonym for the Boston-based illustrator Diyou Wu. Originally from China, today she has clients around the world who love her fashion and editorial illustration work thanks to its bright colours, optimistic vibe, and intriguing combinations of patterns and textures. Fashion is one of her biggest inspirations and her favourite designers include Yves St Laurent, Helmut Lang, Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen and Rei Kawakubo. “To me, their designs are fine art and bring fashion to a whole new level in the history of art,” she says. Picasso and Matisse also get high ratings with Decue. One of her favourite pastimes is going to the cinema, where she particularly enjoys indie films. Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson are her top directors.

Training

Decue has an MFA in Illustration Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and before that she studied Digital Media Art at the Zhejiang University of Media and Communications in China.

Approach

Different compositions, and bold colors in a limited palette are what interest Decue, and she enjoys drawing figures and creating patterns. Most of her work is done using Photoshop and Illustrator, but she also combines hand-made textures, screenprinting and collage work to give her illustrations something extra.

Key Software

Photoshop and Illustrator

Styles

Lifestyle and fashion are often topics in Decue’s work, and she strives to make an emotional connection with those who see her pictures. When she does fashion illustration, she likes to draw long, thin figures in a freehand style, often with bizarre colours. Her lifestyle images usually have a more restrained palette, geometric shapes and patterns, and interesting brush and paper textures. She also creates graphic art and infographics, and here she goes for a cleaner look, using simple vector shapes and geometric forms.

Awards

Hiii Illustration Merit 2014 Taipei Art Competition Winner 2014

Client list

Vogue Draw A Dot The Bump Modern Weekly China Wissen Magazine China Airbnb Jewishboston.com Hudson Seed Library NY Hopes and Fears Swide L'Officiel Hommes Esquire Obscura Magazine Milkx Magazine Hong Kong MIT