Be creative and fun
You'll never find Noodle Town on a map or the Noodle People in any encyclopedia. They are the products of the vivid imagination of Wang, who just turned 30. Each of the colorful and uniquely silly Noodle People was brought to life by her own hand as drawings in her sketchbook and then finalized as animated characters on her computer.
Wang, like many other outstanding creators, is described on her name card as a "designer," but her actual job description is much more multidisciplinary in nature. She majored in visual communications at university. In addition to penning books, she likes to dabble in design. Noodle Town, created in 2002, has developed into a fashion line. For the past few years, she has been trotting between Taiwan and China as she has been working her two hot-selling Fashion Market books. She has become a spokesperson for the new generation of creative workers.
But everything, from the instant hit Noodle Town to the hot-selling Fashion Market and the fad that it triggered in Taiwan, was totally unexpected by Wang. She's just a simple girl that enjoys drawing and watching cartoons.
"It wasn't until I graduated from high school and decided to study in England that I actually began collecting material and thinking about what I ought to study," explains Wang, who boasts a wealth of long straight hair and big bright eyes. Despite being busy with her design work, writing her books, and flying back and forth from England, where she is based, to China and Taiwan where she frequently lectures, Wang still speaks and moves unhurriedly--like someone forgot to wind her up all the way. She recalls, "I knew I liked to draw this, that, and the other, so I figured I could try my hand at design. I eventually decided on visual communication design." As fate would have it, Wang immediately fell in love with her chosen field of study and eventually graduated first in her class. She then applied to study at London's renowned Central St. Martins College of Art and Design. Soon after commencing her graduate studies there, Wang was asked to choose a specialty from among multimedia, animation, and graphic design.
"I naturally thought about how much I loved cartoons as a kid... all of those wonderful cartoon characters and toys," remembers Wang. "Once I thought about that, my direction became crystal clear. I was going to create my own cartoon world!"
The birthplace of many internationally renowned designers and fashion people, St. Martins calls on students to follow their individual artistic creativity, while keeping market demands in mind. Held each year, the graduation exhibition is a must-go for fashion and design industry talent scouts. Graduating students await it in eager anticipation, hoping their work will catch the eye of visiting industry representatives.
"I used to wonder why guys like porn sites so much," explains Wang as she recalls the origins of Noodle Town. "Then a light bulb flashed above my head. I decided to create my version of a cartoon porn site."
With this idea in mind, Wang conceived the site's leading character--Noodoll, the porn star--and proceeded to do some investigative work. In addition to checking out naughty Internet sites, she frequented shops specializing in dirty magazines and flicks in London's Soho district. Even in the melting pot of London, an Asian girl in one of those places really attracts attention. "It's disturbing to be stared at by those creepy guys," Wang recalls.
Noodle Town depicts the world through comics and views sex with a bit of dark humor. "At first, I didn't know if the character should be human, animal, or some personified object," she relates, "until one day, I thought about how noodles could be made into all kinds of different shapes, so I tried making people out of noodles."
"My noodles are also flesh colored, so a mass of tangled noodles really can be a metaphor for sex!"
Equipped with a good idea and some imagery, Wang did a little bit of surgery on the English language, getting "Noodoll" by dissecting and grafting the words "noodle," "nude," and "doll." "Noodoll is a porn star, so I decided to let him run around buck naked, like some primitive man."
And just like that, Noodle Town came into being, appearing in its own website and Wang's storybooks as well as on T-shirts and button pins. It was also her contribution to St. Martins College's 2001 graduation exhibition.
Outside of the website, these cartoon characters adorn bags and garments. Now a hit in Britain, the clothing line can be seen in Taiwan,too.