Kangski sez...

The stuff I, Rick Kang, draw. And the people I went to hi skool with – in drawing form. Portraits based on my yearbook – at least one every day, Monday to Friday (possibly weekends, but we'll see)...

[kangski]

#nevermind #barvolo #nirvana #notoriousBIG #biggie #readytodie

[kangski]

Akilan Selvarajah

I hope dude appreciates the work I put it just to immortalize him. It took me about four drawings to do him justice – both to his defiant expression (which kinda got lost) and his Dragonball Z-esque hair (with which I was more successful).

I mean lookit the body on his ‘do, yo! It’s truly magnificent. I don’t recall seeing dude in the halls, but don’t take it personally, Akilan – there were mad Sri Lankans with bouyant hair roaming the halls of Woburn C.I. in the 90s. 

If it’s any consolation, he did leap off this particular yearbook page. Stay tuned – more winners from this slice of grade 12 circa ’92 forthcoming!

[kangski]

Ketlyn Santana

Before I looked at chick’s name, I kinda assumed she was Persian or something. But seeing as she’s a “Santana”, I’ll assume she’s of Spanish descent. Long-ass hair was a pretty solid and popular style of choice for chicks backintheday, although one has to assume it’s a pretty safe ‘do no matter what era you live in. (The corollary is that if you’re an older Korean lady you must get a perm [and wear black pants with a patterned shirt of some kind – but I digress…]). 

While we’re digressing, I should mention that dyed hair (for chicks and gents) was popular back in the 90s. I only mention it because it seems to have reared its (poorly) dyed head again – emphasis on poor. It’s as though kids today are like, “Yeah, I wanna dye my hair – but why bother making it look good?” Sorry to rag on the youth of today, but most current dyejobs I see look haphazard at best (and pigeon-shit-splattered at worst). 

My point? If you wanna go pink, go pink. Or if you wanna half-go pink, go half-pink. Just make it look a li’l more convincing. Right now it looks like someone just spilled Kool Aid on your head.

[kangski]

Anna Thambirajah

I drew her because she was on the same page as Steph Simpson and I thought she had a kinda Mona Lisa smile goin' on, nawimean? 

I don't know her and don't recognize her, neithers. But that smile! Almost a benign smirk, like she knows some shit that you don't – but it's cool...

Also I like the fact that she's rocking a paisley shirt – which chicks and dudes alike buttoned to the very top back then, for whatever reason.

[kangski]

Stephanie Simpson

It's been a minute, but trappy new year's y'all! A couple of the people I've drawn sent me kind FB messages about being digitized thusly and it made me feel like I should get off my lazy ass and start drawrin' again – so here we is.

Steph Simpson was one of the hottest chicks in hi skool. Yes, this is hard to tell from this shitty drawing but at least in this case I know the yearbook pic didn't do her justice. I might have already drawn her once but you'd be surprised to see how hard it is to peep yer tumblr archives. Whateves... 

She was/is some sort of bi-racial, but obviously all hot. I think she worked at the (now defunct) Athlete's World in the TC (a.k.a. the Town Centre, Scarboro's only legit mall). Also one of my homeboys had a (semi-unrequited/but at least recognized) crush on her. Me? I dared not to dream that big...

[kangski]

Ragina Goodwin / Andy Connell / Daryl McKinnon / Lorna Martin

Erin Barker / Dave Mejia / Dwayne Locke / Nigiba Harding

Some doubles here – the whole second row, I think. These are better (except maybe Nigiba's – but it's always hard drawing babes well for a cruddler such as myself). 

Ragina – pronounced like "Rag" + "geena" (as in "green" without the "r"). WTF, am I right? Way to go, Ragina's parents...

Andy Connell had a sister who looked very much like him – light-skinned, narrow faced. Lorna Martin seemed more ethnic than that name would imply. 

I should also mention these aren't actual rows in the yearbook – or even one single yearbook. Just a random collection of fun people to draw...

[kangski]

Laura Laht / Paul Kariakou / Jeff Kwong / Yee-Ling Kwan

Nick Luka / David Ma / Alan MacDonald / Kim McFarlane

A few more comicy-style joints I done did a few weeks ago. I've drawn Alan before – and it kind of sucked. This one's better. 

Kim McFarlane I remember from as early as grade 2. David Ma looks less child-like and cuddly (like a baby panda) here than in real life (at the time).

Generally, I was kinder than reality (minus Jeff Kwong's freakish peepers).

[kangski]

Gerald Deabreau

This week I’ll be exploring all things 90s – from hair to fashion to… well, mainly just through hair and fashion.

Li’l Gerald here, for instance, is rocking a “groodie” – a self-created (lousy) term for a plaid shirt or vest with a hood in place of the collar (or any sense of style or class) so ubiquitous in the early-to-mid 90s.

His hair is also peculiarly greasy and 90s-ey – shaved at the sides, slicked back and alarmingly long on top. It’s got a wider reach that his hood, for Chrissake!

And in a 90s two-for-one kind of deal (much like the old Marvel Team-Up comic, which featured Spider-Man and whatever second-rate hero needed sales backintheday), Gerald 500 here is also rocking another peculiar 90s-ism: a turtleneck! I don’t know why they were so popular back then (fear of vampires? cold fronts concentrated in the neckal region?), but I for one am glad Gerald wasn’t playing when it came to his trendy neck-swaddling game.

[kangski]

Tamika Stewart

I took some liberties here. Yes, her eyes were really closed. No, I don't know if Tamika's hair was actually red or not. But given the audacity of what's going on follically, I wouldn't put it past her.

At first glance, it kind of looks like two hairdos in one (a bob and that peacock-esque explosion up top) – like she had a two-for-one coupon or something and damned if she wasn't going it use it all herself.

While the magnitude of Tamika's bizness wasn't the norm per sé among the flyer of black chicks backintheday, certain elements within were: the almost metallic sheen on their curls, for instance. It was as shiny as aluminum foil, yet flatter and smoother.

And this tan-khaki vest thing was part of a matching pants suit, I'm betting. That kinda shit was big back then. Trust me...

[kangski]

Shazia Sharif (Redux)

Now she kinda looks the wrong kind of Indian – Native, not the sub-continental sort. Whateves. Much closer to reality now. Also, I kind of made her more fly. No need to thank me, Shazia...

[kangski]

Shazia Sharif

Just so you don't get the impression my hi skool was Pleasantville or nothin', I drew ol' Shazia here. Didn't know her – and I apologize to her if she feels her skin tone ain't right. Peeps get sensitive over that shit. Believe me...

I gotta admit, lookin' at this drawing she looks more Thai-Asiany than Pakistani or Indian. But the waves and sheer volume of hair are more on point. Might gotta do a re-do. Goddammit...

[kangski]

Tasia Apostolou

I actually still know this chick – although to call her a chick now is hopelessly juvenile. Consider it the voice of yesteryear talking (though given my penchant for juvenilia it could've conceivably been yesterday).

Anyhow, she used to hang with (or be one of) the Dirtys – what we called the low-level burnouts; the "stoners" (in quotes only because I loathe the word)  and vaguely hippie-ish, grungy pot- and cigarette-smokers that populated every hi skool of the era. Or at least that was my perception of them backintheday. Unlike them, I didn’t do any drugs in hi skool. I saved them all for my 20s (and so on)... 

[kangski]

Jessica Taylor

I didn’t know this chick backintheday (probably because she was three years young than me), but she does seem somewhat familiar. Kinda petite, as I recall…

I certainly don’t remember her being this striking, though – on some porcelain/alabaster demi-goddess shit. I ain’t frontin’ with the hair, neither – shit was at least that long. She’s probably a mom now. Is that a diss? Cuz I don’t mean it that way at all…

[kangski]

Dennis Ellis

Another example of the “groodie”, or the “Seattle” (those fleece plaid shirts with sewn-on hoods popular during the early 90s) – on the exact same page as another “groodie” in my final yearbook. His (Dennis’s) may or may not have had sleeves. 

p.s.

Wanna know how you can tell if an actual hoodie is any good? Peep the inner part of the hood – you know, where your head goes when you actually pull your hood over it. Is it that same plush, sweatshirt material as the body and sleeves? If so, then it’s halfway decent at the least.

If not (like ol’ Dennis’s groodie here), then the interior of your hood is like the interior of your sweatshirt – thin and bare, kind of like a shaved rat. Basically, it's inside-out (which, as we all know, is wiggidy-wiggidy-wiggidy-wack). 

Personally, I think the greatest hoodie of all time has to be the Champion Reverse Weave. No substitutes. Not no Russell, no Everlast, not even the venerable Swooshie can compare to that sweet ribbing and those game-tight extra-long cuffs. 

[kangski]

Donald Gray

Mods have always been a niche sub-culture methinks, but they had a li'l resurgence in the late 80s/early 90s. Hence dude's bowl cute and suit for picture day (I'm sure he also owned either an olive-green army parka, James jacket or M1 bomber). Incidentally, I did unwittingly improve Donald's appearance here. He seems a li'l more squat and slitty-eyed in his actual-factual yearbook photo. You're welcome, man.

[kangski]

Frederick Chin

I drew this guy just because he's rocking some serious 90s shit.

a) That hair. Mad popular 'do for Asians and non-Asians alike...

b) That grunge staple he's wearing – a plaid flannel vest with a heather grey hood of sweatshirt material sewn onto it (complete with drawstrings).

Allow me to explain. It all started with alcoholic sportswear (™ the Judges family), those plaid shirt/jackets with a sewn-in liner, usually done up with snap buttons. In the 'hood I believe they were called "Pendletons". Dickies and other blue-collar brands made 'em.

Needless to say, plaid was a grunge staple. Meanwhile, in California when I went to visit in grade 11 I bought this Quiksilver buffalo plaid shirt with a grey hood sewn onto it – the first of its kind I'd ever seen. I bring it home, and sure enough, about six months later that shit is ubiquitous: plaid shirts with hoods, plaid vests with hoods, you name it... 

The best part of this is, on the very same page as ol' Freddy here in this particular yearbook is another dude rockin' this same shit! Maybe not the exact same one (but possibly the exact same one)...

I gotta give it a retro-active name. The groodie (pronounced like "hoodie" 'cept with a "Grr-" sound first)? Sounds like what the droogs call boobs in "A Clockwork Orange."

The grundie? Sounds too much like drawers... Maybe the Seattle? Not descriptive, really, but evokes the era. Suggestions welcome...

[kangski]

Julie Chamberlain (Re-dux)

Re-dux because the first one kinda sucked. Aside from the generally gross inaccuracy, she just looked too fucked up. This is much improved.

Even without knowing her or her picture, if you looked at the old drawing and this one you'd be like, "yup..."

Brief re-cap: two (or three) years younger; we called her "Morrissey chick" because she wore a Morrissey t-shirt on occasion (no more so than in a conventional rotation); I thought she was cute. Possibly a mom now.