A Slowboy illustration is instantly recognisable. Deceptively simple in form, each one has an obsessive level of detail. Typically portraying a jovial, stylish figure, usually in tailored clothing, they feature soft, rounded lines, sharp noses and incredibly satisfying depictions of fabric in all forms. Waxed cotton has a familiar dull patina; checked tailored jackets have perfect pattern matching, and pinstripes follow the lines of the wearer as they would in real life. There is humour, and a light-heartedness which ensures they don’t take themselves too seriously.

The man behind Slowboy is Fei Wang, the talented Beijing born artist who, in a short space of time, has become the go-to fashion illustrator for the world’s top menswear brands. As of now, that also includes Thomas Mason, who he’s collaborated with on the brand’s new fabric catalogue. Wang, or Mr. Slowboy, has created a series of illustrations for the book, featuring a number of scenarios where his characters are wearing Thomas Mason’s new fabrics. It helps bring the collection alive, contextualising it through his own unique vision of style.

A former creative director in the world of advertising, Wang has always drawn and it was only a matter of time before he did it full time. Now ten years into his second career as an illustrator, his work has gone from strength to strength, with clients including Dunhill, Drake’s, The Armoury, Fox Brothers and Lock & Co. Hatters. On a warm, early summer’s morning, we caught up with Wang at his London studio to discuss his career, his inspirations and the idea behind the Thomas Mason partnership.

I started in 2015, after I got bored with my advertising job. At the very beginning, I started a blog on social media to share my fashion tips, like my personal fashion tips. I noticed that among my colleagues and friends, I felt at that time everyone dressed down a bit too much, everyone was just wearing shorts and T-shirts. It was too casual!

So I started the blog, and then I needed to use some images to demonstrate what I was saying. I didn’t want to use existing photography or other people’s work, so I just started doing my own illustrations. And then I created this character based on a semi fictional version of myself. I called it ‘Slowboy’, because everyone has always said that I was too slow and that I speak too slowly.

This character, Ivy Boy, was invented in the 1960s by a Japanese fashion illustrator called Kazuo Hozumi. I borrowed the ‘boy’ from Ivy Boy, because it gave me major inspiration. I came across his book, I think, in 2008 when I first visited Japan. It was in a small vintage book shop in Osaka. For me, it was really, really fresh. I’d never seen any fashion illustration done in this way.

If you think of traditional American or European fashion illustration, they’re normally quite perfect, with perfect physiques, and quite realistic. But if you look at Hozumi’s work, it’s really abstract, but at the same time he keeps the essence of all the styles. I found this really amazing. So when I started my illustration career, I just thought about this character.

I started in advertising, I think about 20 years ago, in 2004. I was working in Beijing at an agency for 11 or 12 years. I began as an art director and then moved to creative director. The work was more about generating an idea for a campaign, an advertisement, a TV spot, that kind of stuff. I started drawing at a very young age, although I kind of stopped for a while. When I was working in the agency, I still did illustration as a hobby, and sometimes I took on some projects for my clients. In 2015, I made the move to London from Beijing. So that’s where I made a cut off point to advertising and just started doing my own thing.

I like online shopping. So that’s where I learned a lot of knowledge about menswear, because in China, it’s quite difficult to find good tailoring or classic menswear. So I did a lot of online shopping through the US site or the UK site, and studied the different styles of sleeves and the colours, and the cut and sizes. So it’s a lot of research. These garments I bought became research for my work today.

When I moved to London I saw very authentic people, genuinely stylish people right on the street. For me, that was overwhelming when I just moved here.

I always come up with sketches first. That’s probably the most difficult part, because it’s heavily relying on how quickly you can get the inspiration and the idea. That can be stressful. Once I’m happy with the idea and the concept, then I move on to the pencilling, and then colouring. I use very fine brushes to do the outline and also the detailing of the clothes.

For the Thomas Mason collaboration, each illustration is designed to not just to inspire customers about the fabric or shirtmaking, but also to reflect an ideal lifestyle. We came up with certain scenarios where a gentleman needs a perfect shirt made of Thomas Mason fabric from the collection. The different scenarios include the characters travelling by the Shinkansen, having a picnic in Provence, or chilling out in St James Park. They are all in different locations around the world, in different cities and portraying different ethnicities. So I hope that will resonate with audiences from different parts of the world, and also to celebrate the everyday elegance in contemporary living.

There’s one that’s quite personal to me. It is Slowboy doing sketches in an Imperial Garden in Beijing. I wanted to add in something personal and also a big mixture of East and West, and different aesthetics to make it truly international.

For more on Mr. Slowboy’s work, click here.

Photography by Charlie Thomas