Illustrator Simon Ng was born in Singapore, acquired his illustration degree from Otis College in Los Angeles, worked for publishing houses and a children’s magazine company in Hong Kong for several years, and is now back in Singapore, doing freelance illustration for a number of agencies.

One of his projects was a series of three (as far as I know) illustrations used to raise awareness for the Gambling Helpline of the National Council on Problem Gambling, Singapore.

These took the form of three playing cards, the Ace of Hearts, 7 of Diamonds and a Joker, in which Ng has created the card markings in smaller illustrated vignettes of scenes of domestic violence, abandonment, financial and emotional distress.

The image at left shows the 7 of Diamonds illustration with a detail below it of the “7″, suit marker diamond and one of the interior diamond markings.

A terrific idea, beautifully executed. Art direction is credited to Bob Tay from McCann-Erickson, Singapore. You can see all three of the Gambling Helpline illustrations on Ng’s blog, simon @rtwork.

The campaign and illustrations have garnered awards from many quarters, including The Singapore Creative Circle Awards, Adfest, The World Press Award and the D&AD Yellow Pencil.

Simon Ng also has a portfolio site where you can see his illustrations, character designs and storyboard illustrations. Ng works in a variety of stylistic approaches and seems to enjoy taking on wide range of projects.

Link via StartDrawing.org