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Retro Color Palette

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Let's face it. Most of our parents only want to talk about the three M's: Money, Merit, and Marriage. Not exactly fun topics when you're a queer artist.I tried using this <a href="https://parentsarehuman.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqItmLC0M-Z4by_Uu_ZXfTq6Vliv0fa1piVWO3DdPjU9Cfz73HR" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Parents Are Human</a> game, a version of "We're Not Really Strangers" but with parents. Except there were two issues:<ul><li>My parents were too busy/uninterested in games.</li><li>My parents were deathly allergic to anything deep, introspective, or emotional.</li></ul>

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So I figured, why not ease them in with something more... lighthearted?Introducing: Left On Read–Daily Conversation Prompts for Emotionally-Allergic Immigrant Families

The "What"Over the course of the program, I'll send a daily prompt to every family group chat participating. Each family member will have 24 hours to text their answer back to me. Answers aren't revealed until everyone in the family responds. This encourages full participation (and a little dash of FOMO), similar to how BeReal works.

What's the last thing you talked to your parents about? No, asking for the Netflix password doesn't count. What's something substantial?If your family's like mine, we avoid talking about substantial things. It's not that we don't care. But within immigrant families, there are language barriers, cultural divides, intergenerational trauma—you get the gist.Still... would be nice to not get left On Read, yeah?

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Malibu

Aquamarine

Lavender Rose

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The "Why"Every week, participants can share their favorite convos with me to be featured on the Left On Read Playbook and Instagram account. Anything funny, juicy, ridiculous, shocking, or even *gasp* emotional!For the last week of the program, with permission, I will create a zine of the best convos and distribute them to everyone who participated. Participants can add backstories, explain inside jokes, or reflect through writing and art.As an author-illustrator, making art can be quite lonely. Your work isn't read until years later, and most engagement you get from fans are Likes on Instagram or Goodreads ratings. For the next chapter of my career, I want to focus on engaging the viewer from the very start. Allowing them to interact with the art from the very beginning, so that they become the art itself.

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The "Inspiration"The visual mood for this project is retro and nostalgic. Think playing punch buggy on a road trip as your parents blast 80s Chinese opera. Pretending to be asleep as your dad carries you inside. Arguing with your brother about whose turn it is to mow the lawn.Each color I've chosen deliberately reflects these kinds of memories. Memories that I hope can inspire better conversations among immigrant families.An app that inspired this is <a href="https://musicleague.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Music League</a>, which lets you compete with your friends on recommending music based on a topic (e.g. What's the best song for getting over your ex? What's a song you listen to while cooking?) A friend of mine uses it with her immigrant parents to share music with each other. A lot easier than talking about our feelings, right?Other branding inspirations include <a href="https://storygrounds.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Storygrounds</a>, <a href="https://partiful.com/inspo" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Partiful</a>, and <a href="https://gumroad.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Gumroad</a>.

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The "How"Playbook's Inspiration Fund will help this project grow its wings. Using Playbook's reach to millions of creatives, I hope to attract many people—not just immigrant families, but anyone who wants to reconnect to a parent, a child, or a spouse.Playbook's funding will also help cover costs of the texting API, website hosting, zine printing, and labor costs.If I can help at least one family get closer through these prompts, I will be happy. Even after this program ends, if more families want their daily convo boost, I'll keep providing them. Long term, I can build a scalable web or mobile app to support this.Thank you for coming along on this journey! I hope "Left on Read" left a mark on you!

Jungle Green

Paris Daisy

Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love)

Zines

A love letter to my younger self, Messy Roots illustrates my coming-of-age as an awkward kid just trying to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make my heart flutter.

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir

Perfect Immigrant Daughter™

My Proposal

Hey folks! I'm Lau, a queer Asian American author, illustrator, chaotic Taurus, bread-vacuum and everything in between.I've created two graphic novels—Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir and the upcoming sapphic rom-com, Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love)—and my work has been featured on NPR, the Library of Congress, and the Museum of Chinese in America (see sub-boards below).Growing up in a middle-class, immigrant family, I was pushed towards studying business, AKA "the practical route." Cue picture of Perfect Daughter™ with All-Honors at graduation. After college, I became disillusioned by corporate work. I found myself doodling on all my meeting notes, just like I'd done in school growing up.But in 2020, my life turned inside out.💩 List of sh*tty things from 2020<ul><li>Friend killed from a gunshot wound</li><li>COVID-19</li><li>Relationship of 2+ years ended</li><li>Entire family in Wuhan, China (my hometown), got COVID</li><li>Did I mention COVID?</li></ul>🌸 List of not so sh*tty things from 2020<ul><li>My comic about anti-Asian racist went viral</li><li>Landed a massive two-book deal with HarperCollins</li><li>Quit my soulless corporate job</li><li>Decided to sell all my belongings and travel the world (ex-girlfriend...who?)</li></ul>2020 was a wake-up call. I couldn't waste another day checking emails or scheduling meetings—not when tomorrow wasn't guaranteed.✅ List of things Lau 2.0 wanted to do:<ul><li>Come out to my family</li><li>Get to know my roots</li><li>Make the best damn books I can</li></ul>Now, if you grew up in a family like mine, you've probably already guessed what happened next. Quitting a perfectly stable job to become an artist and coming out as a queer nonbinary person? Cue award for Immigrant Parents' Worst Nightmare™.But I knew that by living truthfully, I'd be able to inspire others to do the same. In 2022, Messy Roots hit bestseller lists, sold thousands of copies, was featured at San Diego Comic Con, and sent me on adventures around the world (see "Hey Ma, I Made It" sub-board below)! I met readers who felt encouraged to come out to their own parents, and parents who used my book to bond with their children. My own parents would come around eventually, but I wasn't going to wait for them. I connected more with my art and queer communities, posting art tutorials, process videos, and hosting queer comics festivals and open mics for new artists to share their work with a live audience. I started a beautiful new relationship, lived in 10+ different countries, and have written about my healing journey in my second book, Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love).Now, I'm focusing on bridging the gap between the artist and the viewer. How can we interact with our viewers as we create? So that they're not just a Like on an Instagram post, but a part of the art itself?For the Playbook Imagination Fund, I'm excited to share my newest adventure. Cue the next Board.

Hey 👋 I'm Lau

Be Gay, Do Comics

Hey Ma, I Made It

My Work

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I'm a queer Asian American author, illustrator, chaotic Taurus, and daily bread vacuum.

I'm the creator of two graphic novels—<a href="https://www.lauragao.com/messyroots" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir</a> and the upcoming sapphic rom-com, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/kirbys-lessons-for-falling-in-love-laura-gao?variant=42682177683490" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love)</a>—and my work has been featured on NPR, the Library of Congress, and the Museum of Chinese in America.

Growing up in a middle-class immigrant family, I was pushed towards studying business, AKA "the practical route." Cue picture of Perfect Daughter™ with All-Honors at graduation. After college, I became disillusioned by corporate work. I found myself doodling on all my meeting notes, just like I'd done in school growing up.

But in 2020, my life turned inside out.

💩 List of sh*tty things from 2020<ul><li>Friend killed from a gunshot wound</li><li>COVID-19</li><li>Relationship of 2+ years ended</li><li>Entire family in Wuhan, China (my hometown), got COVID</li><li>Did I mention COVID?</li></ul>🌸 List of not-so-sh*tty things from 2020<ul><li>My comic about anti-Asian racist went viral</li><li>Landed a massive two-book deal with HarperCollins</li><li>Quit my soulless corporate job</li><li>Decided to sell all my belongings and travel the world (ex-girlfriend...who?)</li></ul>

2020 was a wake-up call. I couldn't waste another day checking emails or scheduling meetings—not when tomorrow wasn't guaranteed.

✅ List of things Lau 2.0 wanted to do:<ul><li>Come out to my family</li><li>Get to know my roots</li><li>Make the best damn books I can</li></ul>

Now, if you grew up in a family like mine, you've probably already guessed what happened next. Quitting a perfectly stable job to become an artist and coming out as a queer nonbinary person? Cue award for Immigrant Parents' Worst Nightmare™.But I knew that by living truthfully, I'd be able to inspire others to do the same. In 2022, Messy Roots hit bestseller lists, sold thousands of copies, was featured at San Diego Comic Con, and sent me on adventures around the world (see "Hey Ma, I Made It" sub-board below)! I met readers who felt encouraged to come out to their own parents, and parents who used my book to bond with their children.

My own parents would come around eventually, but I wasn't going to wait for them. I connected with my art and queer communities, posting art tutorials, process videos, and hosting queer comics festivals and open mics for new artists to share their work with a live audience.

I started a beautiful new relationship, lived in 10+ different countries, and have written about my healing journey in my second book, Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love).