Luoan Liao - Illustration Portfolio 2022

A Little Bit About Me

Liao, Luo-An 廖珞 安

An Illustrator and graphic designer based in Taipei, Taiwan.

She takes inspiration from personal experience in her works and expands her observation to society. She tries to discuss the confusing relationship between person and community by building an integrated environment of reality and virtuality in her art.

Daily Sketch

Personal Project

2020-2022

I sketch in daily life to sharpen my observation skill on the surrounding environment, including architecture, natural scenes and people. Through sketching, I practice composition and proportion. I also experiment with different art supplies to help expand my styles and perspective in art creation.

I like to experiment with tools and techniques. Colour pencil, pencil, and the mix of them with watercolour are my favorites.

Picturebook

Mia's Curry Group Project

2017

Story & Background Design

Liao, Luo-An

Character Design

Shi, Mei-Cen

Font Design

Guo, Jia-Jun

In this project, I made a book dummy and an interactive e-book. The picturebook was a group project in the Digital Narratives Class. The story came from the idea of secret recipe — every family has their own recipe for making the same dish.

In watching cooking shows, I found it interesting how a crucial ingredient can determine the overall flavour. I developed the idea into a story about a raccoon Mia, who tries to find out the missing ingredient of her late grandfather’s curry recipe.

The biggest challenge of creating this picturebook was to clearly present the relative location of each place Mia went to, so I discussed with my teammate and revised the layout over and over.

If children missed their Christmas gifts one day, what may be the cause? The idea inspired me to create 3 Christmas cards — a Santa dozing off on the couch, an elf unboxing the gifts before sending them to children, and a reindeer enjoying skating so much that he forgets his delivery duty.

Animation

Moon Café 2018

According to the legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Jade Rabbits live on the moon. When I was sketching at a café one evening, I suddenly had an image in mind: a whirling moon lit up the room and rabbits were chasing each other.

Personal Project

To make the image come to life, I created a 3D moon lamp as the light source in Cinema 4D. On the moon, the silhouettes of rabbits were chasing each other like a merry-go-round, and their shadows were cast on the walls.

Shadow of the rabbits

Diffuse light in the room

I then combined the 3D moon and shadows with 2D background of the café to make a short animation. Apart from some minor technical flaws in the final work, I was happy that I recreated the exact picture I saw and felt that night at the café during the exploration of new tools.

Click click, can you see the Jade Rabbits?

Illustration Award

2020: A Living Space Proposal

Personal Project 2020

What should people do after being deprived of social events in a society that holds social engagements in high esteem? The work tries to propose an ideal space for people to live in under the severe impact of the pandemic.

Imagine what it is like when people live together closely and support each other, but without interference. I took references from interior design magazines to build a cosy home. To depict the world in the future, I designed the colour and outdoor setting based on the scenes in sci-fi movies.

Taoyuan International Illustration ExhibitionHonorable Mention

Sketches and References

Testing Colour Combinations

NFT Art

Room for Sale 2021

Personal Project

25 rooms for sale on OpenSea NFT Marketplace. After the pandemic broke out, I created this series based on the question : “How do people adjust their life when confined in the room?” I brainstormed different themes and characters and tested many combinations of colours to build 25 rooms suitable for 25 scenarios.

Taiwanese ornament tiles

Study of kitchenware in a traditional Taiwanese kitchen

Room #15 - Disco Fever

People, music, and all the fun things are in the room...so why not make them move?

Room #05 - Escape in Space

Room #10 - Jammin' All Night

Banner Design

The banner and profile picture were designed for a YouTube gaming channel. The YouTube creator described herself as a wolf wandering in the forest. I let the wolf stand out among all the animals, but it is not condescending because the channel has a friendly and positive attitude.

Youtube Channel Banner

2021

Personal Project

Draft Using Grayscale to Adjust Brightness and Contrast Colour Arrangement

NFT Art

The Deities’ Island Odyssey 2022

Group Project

The NFT project is a story about an island where people are losing faith in religion.

By collecting the 12 NFTs of deities, the declined temple will be restored and prosper once again. I worked with my colleagues in researching Taiwanese folk art and background about 12 Taoist and Buddist deities.

Illustration Liao, Luo-An Chen, Li-Sin Calligraphy Design Liao, You-Hao

Art Director Sun, Cing-Yan Colour Design Wang, Mu-Lin

We discussed several versions and finally came up with an ideal result. We also tested colour combinations to create a mysterious and captivating atmosphere.

When illustrating the deities, I struggled to combine history facts and fictional elements into one coordinated composition. My first trial incorporated many details from the god's legend, but the even proportion failed to emphasize the mightiness of the god.

Risograph Pr inting

Although the project was called off due to the company’s decision, I wanted to see more possibilities, so I brought one of the deity illustrations to risograph printing. Turning the complicated illustration into a file ready for risograph was a trial and error. Some adjustments could be done to make the colour more vibrant, but overall, the result is pleasing. Four colours were used: Gold + Sky Blue + Fluorescent Pink + Fluorescent Yellow

Gold Fluorescent Pink

Sky Blue Expected Result Fluorescent Yellow

Risograph Final Result

Key Visual

Opening of Saumsung Experience Stores

Personal Project

2022

I illustrated 5 key visuals for the opening ceremony of Saumsung’s Experience Stores. I added in features around the stores to connect with local participants, and I set the colour tone to a fresh summer vibe to fit the opening's theme.

Before starting the comission, I practiced turning landmarks into simple but recognizable illustraions with a limited colour palette.

Draft I combined various landmarks in one picture to create a lively summer wonderland.

Colour

The first three illustrations included elements of celebration, but the colour choice made them dull. I adjusted the colour palette for the new illustrations to create a fresh and energetic summer vibe.

Character Design

Hotel Brand Character Design

Client : OwlStay

Flip Flop Hostel Jiufen Wander The Salt

since 2016 since 2020 since 2021

Personal Project

2020-2022

I designed three character families for the hotels under the OwlStay company. The hotels are located in three different areas; each of them has a unique personality. For each brand, I created a story, a background environment, and a group of characters based on the brand's vision and local elements collected around the hotel.

Jiufen Wander Character Design

The Host

She loves to experience life and share stories with travellers. She often wanders through the alleys of Jiufen, searching for interesting stories and stars to capture at night.

The Traveller

He lives in the city center, loves to explore and travel on his own.

A-Gui

Star

Big Boss

He revisited Jiufen many years after his childhood and discovered good stories tourists often missed.

A-Gui is a famous dessert in Jiufen - a kind of Hakka rice cake. He has a sticky body and a gentle heart. He is so timid that he uses the magic leaf on his head to disguise himself when he is scared.

Star is a silent figure. During the day, she hangs in the sky to observe people. At night, the glow in her becomes stronger and stronger so she likes to bathe in the ocean to cool herslef down.

Big Boss's family has settled down in Jiufen for genereations. He knows every corner and shortcut in the village. He does not like to obey orders, but he is enthusiactic to help people in need.

Relationship Map & Environment Design

Where Do Flipflope rs Live?

The characters live in a playground where anything can happen. It was designed based on the shape of the Flip Flop Hostel. The playground will change its appearance according to the events that are likely to take place in the future.

Flip Flop Hostel

Animation

OwlStay / The Salt / Jiufen Wander

Thank You!

Get in Cont act with Me Here: Instagram: @luoan.art luoanne96@gmail.com https://luoan-liao.webflow.io