We were lucky to catch up with Yuqing Sheng recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Yuqing, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
As an illustrator, in the professional field, since drawing has always been my hobby, my purpose has almost been to satisfy and express myself. This is a fortunate thing: I do what I love while studying and working. I wouldn’t say I like to make long-term plans, so my creative expectations have been to explore better expression techniques and to make work that is sincere and reflects my current state of being. I think it’s probably because I’ve been creating consistently and spontaneously for so long (since I was 2 or 3 years old) that I’ve naturally understood that my best mode of creation is to honor my own feelings and communicate with people with my artworks, and I haven’t considered changing that purpose.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Most of the time I worked as a freelancer providing character design and illustration for games. From 2021-2023, I worked at NetEase Games, where I was exposed to comprehensive concept design in addition to the character design and illustration that I was primarily responsible for. It was also during this time that, due to the development of a new project, I attempted to build an art system including characters, environments, and items from scratch as a style developer and most of all a concept designer, which made me realize that I really enjoy building corresponding characters based on environments and function.
This is within the realm of my work. Of the spontaneous creations I still prefer illustrations. I think illustration is a combination of working on characters, environments, graphic design, and more at the same time. More importantly, creation is a way of expression for me, and “expression” must be placed in a specific context.
After leaving NetEase Games, I’ve been working on a new project while attending graduate school for illustration. I can’t reveal too much about it yet, but I think it’s an amalgamation of my life and artistic insights from the last few years.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that benefit me the most are observation, sensitivity, and honesty.
For illustrators, observation is paramount to creativity, as one cannot draw what one has not seen (not only in terms of sight, but ditto for hearing, touch, etc.). I think this is something that many artists should have said, that is to stay curious about the world, to observe with an open mind when seeing an object, a creature, or a person, and to keep their characteristics and how they relate to the world in mind.
Sensitivity is more of an emotional aspect for me, when a person stays curious they are also more likely to be sensitive, and have a sense of empathy for what they are observing. Sensitivity makes the creation more passionate, and when the audience feels that passion, it’s easier to “communicate”.
Honesty is respecting your observations and feelings. How each person sees and understands the world is very personal, and that’s what makes the work interesting. It is not natural to always be sycophantic or flatter.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Since I’m experimenting with image narratives and I don’t have a lot of practice with them, this is currently the biggest challenge for me. I published a picture book a few years ago, which was my first attempt at image narrative, but it was relatively less difficult as its text was adapted from an ancient Chinese poem and the number of pages was small. This time, the new work has a lot of pages and the content is completely original. It is testing not only my drawing and narrative skills, but also my writing skills and knowledge base. I actually questioned from time to time whether I would be able to finish it. But a project without any challenge is uninteresting. I always believe that you should go for something you want to do immediately, the big deal is to improve it afterward, but not to regret your hesitation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bronzeandjade.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sun_lin2019/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuqing-sheng-583978293/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Merasgar
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