Essentials: Offgod
A look into the digital artist’s daily staples.
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For our latest installment of Essentials, we speak to 17-year-old artist Andrew Mok, better known as Offgod. Laying the blueprint for the next generation of creators, Offgod turns his love for animation, rap, and fashion into unique illustrations and wearable sculptures which have captured an international audience stretching far from his home city of Hong Kong.
Through sharing imaginative artworks of his favorite rappers, streamers, and cartoons on Instagram, Offgod steadily grew a large organic audience online — eventually reaching his muses. At just 14, he drew the cover art for Juice WRLD and The Kid LAROI‘s single “Reminds Me of You” and since then has worked with the artists such as Justin Bieber, Future, Trippie Redd, and Lil Tecca. More recently, his conceptual Apple AirPods Max attachments inspired by shapes such as the Aphex Twin logo and sea urchins have taken the internet by storm.
With support and encouragement from industry titans such as Pharrell and Takashi Murakami, Offgod shows no signs of slowing, signing a deal with Lil Bibby’s record label Grade A productions last year, and presenting his first solo exhibition and campaign with adidas earlier this year — all while balancing his duties as a student. Looking forward, the young creative looks to introduce new iterations of his viral Airpods Max sculptures and build upon his newly-launched clothing brand, Bandage Boy.
Follow us below as we learn more about the young artist through his Essentials selections.
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Airpods Max Headphones
This is definitely one of my Essentials. I wear them every day and it’s slowly begun to be a part of my brand. I’ve been making a lot more sculptures lately that aren’t necessarily essential, but I definitely like to wear them to events and stuff I do once in a while. Listening to music has been a big part of my life. It inspires the art I do and everything in general. These headphones have a nice aesthetic and I’ve been using them since January. There are a few scratches but it doesn’t look too scratched because of the matte finish. It’s become something I can’t live without — especially in the morning after school and before school. During that time, I just like to listen to music to get into like the right mood, or if I don’t want to talk to anyone I just put these on (laughs).
Black Urchin Sculpture
I knew I wanted to create a design that reflects real-life things and I knew I wanted it to be spiky, so the first thing I thought of was sea urchins. Honestly, the black color didn’t really come naturally. When I was printing, it was the only filament color available and afterward, I thought it looked cool and ran with it. This is the first sample of the sculptures. I’ve only made a few but this is one of my favorites. The circles inside are part of the aesthetic of my brand so I tried to incorporate them.
Figure It Out: Designer Toys and Their Makers by Victionary
Art books in general have been big, important parts of my life. This [Figure It Out: Designer Toys and Their Makers] is one of my favorites. It has a lot of photographs and it’s about different figurines and designs by artists. I don’t really like to read books with just words since I get easily distracted so the only books I do read are art books or books with pictures that are aesthetically pleasing. I bought this at the start of the year and I’ve been going back to it whenever I need inspiration. I also got this because I want to get into toy designing sometime in the future and iconic figurines like KAWS and BE@RBRICKs are some things I’ve been looking into.
Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon
This book [Keep Going] on the other hand, I bought because I remember he’s also made another book called Steal like an Artist. I’ve read that one and I thought it was very interesting. When I saw the cover and I read the title, I knew instantly that I wanted to get it. It really inspires me and helped me take mental notes on how to not get worn out by art and stay motivated as a creator. I’ve been bringing it around and putting it in my backpack at school. Artists experience art block a lot of the time and this really helped me get into the right mindset and not stress myself out with the stuff I’m making.
Fish-Eye Lens
This is a fish-eye lens that I take around everywhere. At the start of the year, I did a lot of fisheye drawings since I really liked the perspective and I started carrying this around and popping it on my phone. Every time I go out with some friends and we take pictures, I get this out. I feel like it’s part of my artistic journey as well because for a while I did a lot of fisheye drawings. Before I moved on to headphones, that was my signature thing. I bought this at a dollar store and it was pretty cheap. I just wanted the effect. I really like to play around with cameras and lenses because it helps document what I do in real life. Sometimes for the pictures that I find cool, I use that as my references so it goes hand in hand with my journey.
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
VisionKids CAMU II 4000
Speaking of photos, I really like the effects from old cameras or cameras that aren’t entirely in HD quality since it gives a very raw aesthetic to it. The only thing with film is I’m too lazy to get it developed. This is just a fun camera that I like to take out with my friends and I’ve worn it to the ground. It’s a kid’s camera but at the same time, it’s got an SD card in it so I can easily transfer pictures. I really like photographs and I like to document my life so this camera does the job.
Canon FS100 Camcorder
This one, on the other hand, I bought when I was out with my friends in Sham Shui Po when we went across all these vintage and antique stores. It actually has the old grain effects, and an SD card as well so it’s very convenient. It was created in 2008 and I feel like filming on a camcorder is so much more authentic. Since it’s my last year of high school, I wanted to take it all in and document my life so I bring this with me every day. In the future, maybe five to 10 years later, I get to look through these clips and they become very priceless videos. So I definitely think that this is one of my favorite items in the collection.
Custom Sunglasses
I also bought these sunglasses at a dollar store type place. The reason why I got them is because they have silverish lenses so you can’t see the eyes and they’re big enough to fit under my glasses. At the same time, this isn’t really for practical use since I’ve sort of decked it out and damaged it quite a lot. Whenever I’m out, I get this out and have my friends wear it. I have a whole folder on my phone of my friends wearing the sunglasses and I feel like it’s such a cool thing because I’ve seen the YZY goggles and I thought it was such a smart way to promote their stuff. Hopefully sometime in the future I get to create a video or edit with my friends wearing these. This is just the very start of my brand as well so I’ve been keeping these in case. Even though it seems pretty small and cheap I feel like it’s authentic to me and my brand and a lot of people actually enjoy this.
Sketchbook
I often get this out in class and start drawing. It’s just a place for me to put down my ideas for things that I like or inspire me. I have a whole shelf in my room with all of these books so if I run out, I can just get one and keep going. At the same time, the sketchbook is what you don’t see on my Instagram. It’s definitely very behind-the-scenes and a quick and easy place for me to put ideas, sketches, or whatever. I do these drawings very quickly and the whole goal of the book isn’t to make something look nice in particular, but it’s very much to draw ideas down first, so I don’t forget when I get home.
Fineliner Pen
For my next Essential, it’s just one pen that I’ve got in every bag. When I go out with my friends and especially with new friends sometimes it’s hard to start talking so if there are napkins around me or any paper, I start doodling around and that’s always a good conversation starter. Some of my friends actually saved the napkin and I feel like it’s not only a cool memory to have, but it’s just the fact that something as simple as a pen goes such a long way. I feel very lucky that I sort of know how to draw as in general as it’s a very hard skill to learn. You either are very interested in it at a young age or when you’re older, it’s harder to get into it since you have to develop muscle memory. From a baby until now, I’ve been drawing the same way.
Apple iPad
I usually use my iPad Pro but this one is more portable. I use this as a digital sketchbook almost and at the same time for pretty much everything for school. I can easily switch the canvas and draw. This is cool because it’s literally like a sketchbook, but you get to transfer it onto a digital form and it feels pretty raw. I love to find references from Instagram and Pinterest and I put them in the corner and draw based on the photo. This is also just a way for me to constantly practice my drawings. Especially now that I’m at school and it’s so busy, I barely get a lot of time to actually do good line art and professional-looking pieces. Instead, I draw these little sketches and this tablet is so quick and easy to take around everywhere.
Assorted Jewelry
I’ve started collecting jewelry ever since I got into fashion and I think it just makes an outfit so much better. Some of these are gifted by my friends that are also artists so they’re cool to keep around and wear because I’m supporting them and their own projects. I also see jewelry as medals and trophies in a way. For example, the Chrome Hearts ring is quite expensive but I bought it to celebrate my first exhibition. I wanted to get a gift for myself so that I can remember the moment. This was the first gift I got myself from the money I made from my art so it was a very proud moment for me. It’s the same thing for a lot of the different jewelry pieces that I have on and in my collection. For jewelry in general, I tend to sometimes buy gifts for my friends and my brother with the purpose of saving a memory. For a pair of shoes, you grow out of them, but for jewelry, you can keep it for a long time.
Vandy The Pink x Clarks Skeleton Wallabee
These are a Friends and Family pair from VANDY. The thing with my shoe collection is that a lot of them are designed by my friends which I think is sick. The funny thing is, a lot of them make shoes that are inspired by Jordans and Dunks so I’ve actually never had a pair of normal Dunks. All of these shoes are so unique and exclusive and I’m very grateful to have friends in the same field that make their pieces, and I like to wear them to show support. It’s funny because my parents are actually getting pissed that literally half my room is just boxes of different things. I feel like these shoes are a big part of my life because it represents my relationship with my friends, and I’m thankful for having people close to me who want to share their work with me.
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Heison Ho/Hypebeast
Would you say most of your creator friends aren’t necessarily from Hong Kong?
That’s for a lot of designers and artists I meet on Instagram. I start off by showing love for their work and then we develop a friendship-type thing and when they make something cool, I’ll share it around or show love and that’s where it always starts. On Instagram, it’s very important to support other creators and others that are doing similar things because you want to see your friends succeed and you want to see people doing the same thing to succeed. It’s a rare sight to see small independent creators grow something really big. With VANDY in particular, I’ve always shown love to his stuff and I and him have developed a close relationship. I feel like the creator community in general is quite small and word gets around quickly.
How has your experience been growing your brand from here?
When I first started, I hid my identity until I had 100k followers. I didn’t want other people to know where I’m from because I didn’t want people to judge or discriminate and I figured that it was harder for a creative to branch out from Hong Kong just because it’s literally a dot on the map. So it’s definitely harder to reach out compared to if it was a creator in America where you can easily find connections or develop friendships with people that are also doing the same thing. Social media has definitely helped, in a sense that once I had the following, I’ve been contacting different people who I looked up to, and they were also showing love which I felt was such a cool thing to experience.
We saw Pharrell recently contacted you about your work.
It was crazy because me and Pharrell first started talking more than a year ago. I drew for Takashi Murakami and he reposted it and I saw he followed me. He’s such an OG in fashion and music as well as a big inspiration for me personally so at that moment it clicked that I can take it to the next level because he sees my work. Recently he showed love to my headphone sculptures which I thought would never happen. A lot of famous will follow you and never really interact but he randomly texted me and told me he sees what I’m doing and to keep it up which really motivated me and kept the fire going. It was definitely a cool moment.
What’s your plan for the future?
I’m definitely still going to make some unique designs with headphones. For my brand Bandage Boy, I’ve been pitching in little ideas and adding to it. Right now I’m very busy so I’m keeping it running in the background. I’m still dealing with a few contracts with Grade A regarding it, and hopefully, it’ll come out by the end of next year. We don’t want to rush into anything and with the sculptures being so successful, it’s given me something else to work on. I’ve been in talks about doing another exhibition next year as well. I love doing these solo exhibitions as it gives me the opportunity to share my work and have people in the public just walk in and see it. It’s such a cool experience.
I’m graduating next year and right now school is really limiting my creative freedom and I’ve been very tired all the time with barely enough time to think of new concepts. One of them takes one to two weeks to make and I keep it very consistent. Hopefully after graduating, I have more time to work on my art and push my career further. Going forward I definitely want to work with more brands and do more with clothing.
