Welcome to The Pencil Bakery!

A delicious diary by Amber Aü

Helloooo!! I am Amber, illustrator who love drawing and eating (who doesn’t :P). Welcome to The Pencil Bakery.

Pencil, because I love drawing.

Bakery, because bakery is my happy place. I cannot live a day without sourdough, ciabatta , baguette, croissant, pain au chocolat, bagel, pizza…… basically anything made with flour.

This is a weekly diary/ blog/ newsletter to share my thoughts, my illustrations and my life. I wish to make this a happy place for you, just like it does to me. Also, as I am not very good at replying messages and updating my friends (my phone has been on silent mode since I was 16 ), I think this newsletter might be a good place to keep you all updated. If you are reading this now, you probably have given me your emails 15 years ago.

A little bit more about me

I am Amber (a.k.a AuAu) and I am a full-time illustrator, based in Cheshire, England. I was born and raised in Hong Kong and I went to university in the UK. I majored in nutrition and I have been a nutritionist for 2 years. Yup, nutritionist who asked other eat less and do more exercise and stay thin. So….how did I end up being an illustrator? It all started from meeting my friend, Mia.

Mia is a name I made up for my eating disorder (Bulimia Nervosa). I don’t like using the word “suffered” when I talk about my eating disorder because yes, I did suffer a lot but I learned and gained a lot too. I feel like it’s unfair to use the word “suffered”. I sought for professional help in 2019 and my therapist suggested me to keep a food diary which can be useful in my recovery journey. As days passed by, I felt a bit bored just to use words for my food diary, so I started to include some drawings in my diary. And that’s it! This is where my illustration journey began. Food was, is and will always be my inspiration. I always go back to drawing food or food related stuffs when I feel stuck during my creative process.

In conclusion,

Food was my enemy. Food is now, my therapist.

Food was my enemy but I have been fixing our relationship by drawing it out. This is how the name of my website and instagram come from - Draw it Au (“Au” is my surname and it has similar pronunciation as “out” ).

Things I will be sharing in The Pencil Bakery -

• illustration that might cheer you up on your bad days

• picture books, podcast, food, coffee shop or basically anything that I like

• video of my illustrating process

• random thoughts

• sketchbook/journal pages

• tips on procreate? (let me know if you wish to)

Thank you again if you are still reading. Share this page to a friend if you enjoyed the illustration or my story, or you think this might help some of your friends on their journeys.