BEING AN ILLUSTRATOR The very first time I was touched by art was when I was 8 years old, while been practicing Chinese calligraph for 2 years, I did nothing but making marks in the way people wanted me to. But at one rare occasion, I finished a piece 'art' work with my classmate, a painting full of splashed paints. I made all sorts of marks in the way I wanted, and what thrilled me the most was the energy of those exploded colors. 9 years of studying Chinese calligraph helped me understand the fluid tune behind the beautiful mark which still affects my work unconsciously.
“Painting
is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” ― Leonardo da Vinci
“We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.� Bob Ross
My inspirations come from life and any subjects that interest me, such as some moments in life, the emotions and thoughts behind them. And people, people with different manners, expressions, the happy ones, relaxed ones, and the sorrowful ones, their eyes express their complex existence. I look at people closely or with a distance, and illustrate their emotions or status from the tiniest body gestures.
I get ideas while I am in nature as well, studying in Bournemouth offered a fantastic opportunity to live by the sea and green. I often take a walk by the beach, and every single day, the sky would look extraordinarily different, that gives me ideas of colors and patterns. To me, nature is the most peaceful and gentle thing, at the most of the lovely days, they provide the most calming and comfortable experience, it is also full of life, the greenness of the summer trees always enrich me with a great refreshing feeling. The branches of English trees always amaze me, as they are so different compared to what I have seen in my hometown. Some trees appeared to be wilder than the others, some just look massive, watching all these trees have been a quite bizarre thing for me. Leaves of different plant s are my favorite to observe, none of them are the same, it is just so interesting.
Study experience in AUB At the last project of year three, I finally can create my own images with skills and knowledges that have been gained during year one and two. I decided to create a story that involves any factors that I enjoy of experiencing here in England. The initial idea came from a video of moving potteries, I was touched by the light on the ceramic, and the beautiful blue glazed pattern on the pot. As I wish to draw the things that I love in my final project, I decided to create a story has something to do with ceramics, patterns. On the other hand, I have stayed in the UK for nearly 6 years, I hope to draw things that I found interesting here. At the end, by looking back into my own memory, and interviewing some friends' experience of visiting a foreign country, I knew I want to make a story up with elements such as ceramics, a park, traveler. I chose tea cup, because of its comforting, sweet, closing to heart quality. Being in a strange place can be a lonely and cold experience, however a cup of warm tea gives the traveler a moment of consolation
The first problem of all is about making the story up. As I am not good at logistic thinking, I was really worried if I will be able to make the narrative clear. Also as the plots were from individual experience, I was scared of not being able to communicate with the audience here. These anxiety once hindered my development. After my tutorials with Lisa and Joel, I decided to just go drawing and looking into some vintage cups, and looked at images of English family which may refer the teacups' social statuses, and the change of them over history. These helped me to kick start my project. I finally finished the little story however Joel suggested that it was too complexed, I guess my anxiety still affected my writing, as they said 'The image will make sense by themselves.'. At the moment, I believe the wise thing to do is not to think too much about the logic of the story, even though some of my worries were reasonable, I shall not be stopped by them, because at the end of day, I wish to finish my project with amusing and professional images, as a satisfying end of my three years study of illustration. The audience may felt something differentiated from my original idea, but that is ok, this is the interesting thing about art.
FUTURE PLAN One thing I like about illustration is that we can apply our work on products, this is my way of making the world a more lovely place, by decorating it with aesthetic element. Illustration as to me is a way of communicating to people as well, as a reminder of life. This is why I hope my work would gave hope and positive message to people, to remind them how beautiful life is. As a result, I will be delighted to work with fabric company, or relative design company, book covers would be a field to explore as well. Instead of going to industry right away, I am planning to study master course to expand my practice to the wider and deeper extent. Most importantly, I wish to draw images that can be even closer to express who I am, and hopefully, it will be interesting for people as well.
Do not waste the precious moments of this, your present reality, seeking to unveil all of life's secrets. Those secrets are a secret for a reason. Grant your God the benefit of the doubt. Use your NOW moment for the Highest Purpose- the creation and the expression of WHO YOU REALLY ARE. Decide who you are- who you want to be-and then do everything in your power to be that.
Neale Donald Walsch