On his Instagram account peterichchiuwan, stylist and fashion illustrator Peterich Chiu Wan regularly posts PETEraits (a play on portraits) of the stylish ladies who inspire him. Not a surprise, then, that the guy is the talent behind the cover art and illustrations of Liz Uy’s top-selling book StyLIZed: Liz Uy’s Ten Style Essentials.
“I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, I’d draw in my notebooks, I’d draw on our walls, but I never saw it as something creative or transcendent. I just drew for fun—until the chance to draw Liz for her book presented itself. Now I do some illustrations for magazines and some small commissions for friends. A whole different world has opened up for me through my illustrations. It’s awesome,” he tells Jacky Lynn A. Oiga in Manila Bulletin.
Pete currently juggles freelance styling and drawing, holding on to the possibility of getting into art school to hone his craft, and eventually illustrate full-time.
“Before I reach 30, I want to backpack around the world for a year or two,” he says. “I’ll probably get a one-way ticket somewhere; just me and my girls, with not much cash in my pocket, so I’ll be forced to commission enough PETEraits to get to my next destination. I want to see the world, experience more of life, arts, and culture with and through my sketches.”
