We were lucky to catch up with Dannie Niu recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dannie, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
I used to care about some haters, but when I realized I didn’t have to care about them, I became relieved. Yes, everything has to be about me, I am my world’s owner. I exist in this world not because of them. 🙂
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Yes, my name is Dannie Niu, I am a freelance illustrator, muralist and tattoo apprentice now living in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of the clients I’ve worked with include Marta Atlanta, f(r)iction Magazine, The Print Shop Atlanta, The Venezianer Magazine, and more. I’m taking a vacation for myself lately, I’m traveling the east coast of the US. I always love going to art museums and every time I go I learn a lot. In my opinion, I think we shouldn’t stop learning. I do the same thing in my own career planning, constantly asking myself to strive for higher and better. I just opened my Etsy store recently and I’m hoping that I can make more interesting merchandise and get more people to know about my art work. Also I’m hoping to get more mural work in the next half of the year and work on expanding my tattoo business.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three important qualities in my opinion are: sincerity, hard work and always treating everything the same. Sincerity is a difficult quality to maintain, however, as time grows, you will realize that remaining sincere will bring you many things that can last for a long time. These things are often much more important than the benefits you receive for a short period of time. Hard work needs no explanation, I think that as long as you work hard, you will definitely be rewarded accordingly. If you still don’t gain anything after a certain amount of effort, don’t blame others, it just means you didn’t try hard enough.
Always treating everything the same, my understanding of this sentence is that there is no need to overthink or make things too complicated or difficult. When you face something, you need to believe that the essence of all things are the same, the solution to the problem is step by step, do not need to give yourself a psychological implication as if a lot of things are very difficult and no possible to solve. Believe in yourself, you have the ability to solve everything.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
Over the past 12 months, I’ve tried to get myself to go out and talk to more people in the art field. People always living in a group similar to their own, and as someone who makes a living from art, I’m actually a very shy person. I always believe “say less and do more”. However, I felt I need to push myself out a little bit more now. During this past 12 months, I have been actively promoting myself, going to contact some galleries or artist agents, or going to some art exhibitions. My sights are not just on Atlanta, but all over the world. I myself feel that after this period of self-referral, I have actually learned a lot. I hope that in the near future I can get more and more wonderful opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dannieniu.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dannie.niu/
- Other: Esty: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DannieStoreArt
Image Credits
1. The Railway Track – Personal work/digital 2. Dirty Artist – Personal work/digital 3. Spark Studio Mural Project 4. Fired Rice Master Mural Project 5. Star Night Peachtree Road – Personal work/digital
