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A simple thank you...that's all I need, says artist on the move
The Straits Times
|March 30, 2025
He sketches strangers in public, surprising them with portraits that capture their essence.
Three years ago, on a Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo, Mr Jeff Lai Pin Nean noticed a weary stewardess as she approached to take lunch orders.
Inspired to brighten her day, he grabbed his pencil and sketching pad. With swift strokes, the then undergraduate sketched the stewardess, complete with face mask and apron. He made his way to the galley, where he found her crouched down, organising trays in a trolley.
Surprised, she looked up as he presented his artwork. Her eyes then crinkled with joy.
"May I take this?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes, yes, yes. That's for you," he replied.
The flight stewardess later reciprocated the kind gesture with a card and her own sketch of Mr Lai.
When he shared this touching encounter online, the response was phenomenal. His post amassed four million views on Instagram and another 2.5 million on TikTok.
Now 27 years old and working as a software engineer, Mr Lai still cherishes the memory. It reminds him of how small, thoughtful gestures can make a big difference.
That's why he continues doing what he does - sketching strangers in public and surprising them with portraits that capture their essence.
Mr Lai - whose handles are playingwithpencil on Instagram, and jeffandpencil on TikTok - has been quietly spreading joy for the past three years, and changing his own life along the way.
With his blend of earnestness, shyness and quiet confidence, he never imagined his sketches would earn viral fame.
A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY AND REINVENTION
Born and raised in Permas Jaya, a bustling suburb of Johor Bahru, Malaysia, he is the youngest of three children - and the only son - of an operations manager and a teacher who taught chemistry and mathematics.
As an infant, his curiosity knew no bounds.
"My mother said I'd grab everything within reach on the dining table, so they had to tie me to the chair," he says with a laugh.
This story is from the March 30, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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