From Tenniel’s Cheshire Cat to Shimizu’s Hello Kitty, furry felines are an adorable source of inspiration for many creatives around the world. Joining the pride this month comes a new cuddly-clawed curiosity called Shibu, who might just find a place in your artistic heart thanks to the astounding level of craft within every fibre of his being.
Shibu’s Tail was written by first-time children’s author Tess Thomas, and illustrated by Kamwei Fong, an artist specialising in meticulously rendered creatures with a fleecy, fluffy, fuzzy or furry finish. Inside, we meet a cat with a big tail and bigger feelings. However, when that tail starts to attract attention, he must decide whether his emotions are better expressed or kept quiet.
Dust jacket image front
A huge attraction of this 46-page book is the feeling with which Kamwei has drawn not just each image, but each individual hair in Shibu’s luxuriant coat. “To be honest, Shibu was largely inspired by my previous and ongoing feline work. His character design was directly based on Kitty No.101,” explains Kamwei. “Cats are fluid and incredibly flexible. In my imagination, they can become anything. That idea shaped how I created Shibu, especially his tail. It became the main way he expresses his emotions, a kind of visual language on its own.”
It’s a visual language written in thousands upon thousands of short strokes, applied with Kamwei’s Sekura Pigma Micron pens. Fur becomes form, form becomes feeling, and the final touches bring depth and personality to Shibu’s character. “I think there are around 80 to 100 illustrations in total, including Shibu, the other cats, and various elements,” says the Malaysian artist.
The endpapers
“Creating a single piece and creating an entire book require completely different approaches, in planning, effort and mindset,” Kamwei continues. “I had to shift my perspective to ensure that each illustration was given the same level of care and intention, so the overall quality would remain consistent from start to finish.”
Kamwei’s cat obsession traces back to his Furry Thing series, which began in 2009. Surprisingly, he was always a dog person, but somehow feline creatures caught his imagination when, after 20 years working digitally, he craved a hands-on form of creativity. He sculpted ceramics, painted and made soft plushies, then settled on drawing animals by hand, in a way digital tools can’t match.
“The Furry Thing pieces demand precision, consistency and a great deal of patience to achieve that soft, smooth, graduated texture. But the consistency isn’t mechanical; it’s not a lifeless repetition. There’s a quiet rhythm in the process, something alive and intentional in every mark,” says Kamwei.
Shibu’s origin story is a wonderful example of how inspiration, ideas and endeavour lead to a fantastic project. New Jersey writer Tess Thomas was given a piece by Kamwei for her 30th birthday by her brother. One evening, while bathing her child, she looked at the print and began drafting Shibu’s Tail in Notes on her iPhone. Later, she and her brother, an editor at indie publisher Levine Querido, developed the story to pitch to the artist.
“One of the things I have always loved most about cats is their expressiveness,” says Tess, who dedicated the book to her own cats, Jane and Charlotte. “Kamwei’s approach using fine lines really captures cats’ energy, their humour and their ability to convey so much with just a flick of their tail or a twitch of their fur.”
“I will never get over the fact that Kamwei agreed to bring my words to life with his incredible art,” she adds.
And if you’ve read this far, holding your nose because you’re definitely not a cat person, good news. Tess Thomas and Kamwei Fong have a new adventure planned for Shibu that both cat and dog lovers will enjoy.
