Meet Li Xinyue Elaine

We recently connected with Li Xinyue（Elaine） and have shared our conversation below.

Li, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
In fact, I don’t heavily rely on my inner resilience to cope with the demands of work and life. Instead, I employ a range of simple and enjoyable methods to recharge my spirits. However, I happen to be someone who can easily feel drained, so I have some cost-effective ways of self-restoration. Typically, when I’m feeling particularly exhausted, I treat myself to a delightful meal or indulge in some sporadic online shopping, purchasing inexpensive items as little gifts to myself. If I’ve just completed a project that has taken a toll on my energy, I might need several days of uninterrupted sleep. During this time, I sleep without regard to day or night, eat lightly until my brain fully awakens, and then prepare a sumptuous meal. Afterward, I unwind by watching entertaining TV shows or YouTube videos.
When facing sustained stress, such as the pressures of an entire year’s workload, I attend concerts, even if they are online. Concerts serve as an excellent way for me to relax and recharge, regardless of their format.
Particularly, when I find my creativity stifled, inspiration lacking, or no interest in selecting new projects, I revisit beloved animated films and movies, and listen to music albums that inspire me. These are my methods of “self-restoration,” through which I continually rebuild my mental resilience and vitality, enabling me to confront the various challenges of life and work.

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?
Hello！I’m Xinyue Li（Elaine）, but you can call me Elaine. I’m an illustrator currently pursuing my MFA in Illustration at SCAD. I’m someone with a wide range of hobbies and interests, though I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in any of them. I’m also a bit of a homebody, and my boyfriend and I both enjoy staying in. We have a lovely golden British Shorthair cat named “糖糕（Tang Gao）”， which translates to “Sugar Cake” in English – she’s an adorable little lady.

Right now， I’m embarking on a long-term personal research project focused on exploring different illustration styles and visual languages. My undergraduate background was in traditional Chinese figure painting, which is quite distinct from the field of illustration. This has led me to discover both blurred boundaries and sharp distinctions between different painting languages, and I find the exploration of these differences and connections incredibly fascinating and exciting. While my research is not broad but rather deeply personal, reflecting my own preferences, I believe it will be a valuable and intriguing topic of study for others.

I work on book illustrations, editorial illustrations, and various commercial illustration projects. Towards the end of this year, I’ll be launching postcards, bookmarks, and temporary tattoo stickers featuring my signature style. Additionally, I’m planning to release my own comics, illustration books, and zines, all of which will be available on my personal website.

I’ve also co-founded a design studio with a friend called “Unrealinst V.” We’re establishing an online community within it called the “Unrealist Art Community,” which will be hosted on WeChat. It’s an online space for art enthusiasts, including those interested in art, painting, art history, animation, film, comics, picture books, game art, and more, to connect and make friends. In addition to discussions about beloved artworks, the group will feature teachers sharing diverse art-related content, including analyses and explanations. We’ll cover topics in classical art, modern art, contemporary art, analyze and explain classic commercial art (such as animation and game design), recommend excellent books and films, and provide guidance on professional painting knowledge and art studies. This community is designed for anyone interested in art, whether they’re looking to make friends or engage in discussions on art-related topics with like-minded individuals.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I’m a very slow starter，I usually need more time to analyze the things I‘m going to do. This has resulted in a relatively slow progression in my career, with either unsatisfactory output or a lack of confidence. Although I’ve been exposed to the field of art since I was young, it has led me to question myself continuously during my undergraduate years and the few years I’ve spent in graduate research. During this time, I experienced doubts about my own abilities and talents, dissatisfaction with my work, and a temporary loss of passion for creation.

I’m someone who loves art. I used to enjoy reading numerous works of literature and art, even though, at a young age, I couldn’t grasp their profound content. However, when I entered university at the age of 18, I realized that my aspirations and talents were like being trapped in one place, revolving around an invisible wall. It felt as if I was striving but making no progress, and I could easily see the great artists soaring freely in the sky, whether known or anonymous, displaying their magic. This was an embarrassing situation, especially since I had just entered an art school. At that time, I was a ‘wishful artist aspiring to leave a mark,’ and I soon discovered that the probability of achieving that was close to zero. It led to moments of frustration and shame due to my perceived lack of talent, which was a terrible mindset to be in.

But now, I have a better mindset, and I haven’t given up on my initial goals. The reason is that, while recognizing my own mediocrity, I also see the mediocrity in others, including those “genius” artists. I feel that acknowledging my own mediocrity and recognizing the mediocrity of life itself motivates me and gives me the patience to study, create, and live more seriously. This is crucial because, when you understand the societal nature of “there is nothing new under the sun,” you can truly appreciate the greatness of those artists. I think to myself, “Those artists have their own ordinary aspects, just like me, and they also live in this imperfect world.” Consequently, I’ve gained more confidence and courage, along with a more tolerant attitude towards my own abilities and talents.”

While I have become more tolerant of my own limitations, I also went through a period of severe dissatisfaction and even disdain for my own work. At its worst, I discarded all the artwork I had accumulated over the years because I felt it wasn’t good enough, that it was embarrassing and should be hidden away or even destroyed. This sense of shame stemmed from my dissatisfaction with myself, driven by a lack of clear and reasonable short-term goals.

For a while, I frantically attempted to improve my technical skills through relentless practice because I was dissatisfied with what I was producing, to the point where I felt ashamed. Although I didn’t overtly show it to others, I was almost discarding one piece of artwork after another. The ongoing dissatisfaction with the results of my practice and creations made me somewhat fearful of tackling the subjects I liked. In the end, I even lost my proficiency in the topics and themes I once enjoyed. It was only at this point that I began to realize I had become overly anxious and somewhat unrealistic in my expectations. Making such a foolish mistake, like picking sesame seeds and discarding watermelon, is somewhat comical in hindsight.

After readjusting my mindset, I carefully reviewed what went wrong during that summer. The first mistake was choosing the wrong direction for practice and learning. I focused on subjects I wasn’t skilled at and techniques I hadn’t practiced much, while neglecting my strengths and preferred subjects. The second mistake was not being consistent in my efforts. I wanted to try everything in both practice and creation, which meant I didn’t deeply study any particular area. This lack of accumulation hindered my progress and improvement. Subsequently, my practice primarily concentrated on what I excelled at and was most interested in, such as arranging and designing lines in the composition and using lines to convey emotions. This accumulation gradually gave my work its distinctiveness and uniqueness. Therefore, when it comes to goals like “progress” and “improvement,” one cannot be hasty. Taking one step at a time, planning and designing improvement direction sensibly, is the way to see results.

Although I sometimes still face moments of insecurity when it comes to my work, this lack of confidence and satisfaction no longer spirals out of control.

I also experienced a period when I lost my enthusiasm for creating art. Back in high school and during my undergraduate years, I had a strong passion for art, and I could effortlessly produce small pieces of work that satisfied me. This gave me great confidence when I transitioned from traditional fine art/painting to the field of illustration. However, it actually took me a full three years to fully adapt to the creative process of illustration. During this time, there was a year when I almost lost interest in creating altogether.

Because I was moving from fine art and painting to illustration, which has a strong design component, it took me quite a while to adapt and learn the compositional techniques of illustration and become familiar with digital drawing software. The shift in medium and mindset drained my energy and enthusiasm for creating, and the bumpy adjustment period with the software nearly stifled any new inspiration. This situation persisted to the point where I even found drawing no longer pleasurable, and I was reluctant to pick up a pen. This was an entirely new experience for me, as someone skilled in traditional media art, I had never anticipated that learning software would be such a struggle, and yet it was a necessary part of my journey. So, I had to create a plan and set a schedule to get through this phase as smoothly as possible.

However, emotional stress was the most challenging to overcome. My solution was to read some interesting but calming books, particularly those related to mysticism, philosophy, or semiotics. These books had a rational aspect but were not overly dense, and they helped me through that time. Books like Oscar Wilde’s “DE PROFUNDIS,” Alain de Botton and John Armstrong’s “Art as Therapy,” and Eric Kaplan’s “Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation” were particularly helpful. Maintaining a learning pace to keep generating interesting ideas while balancing my study life was important. Finding suitable books for leisure was fascinating, as they provided both relaxation and effectiveness in helping me cope with that period.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The main challenges I’m currently facing are related to my academic pursuits and creative work. At the end of each semester, I often find myself feeling quite exhausted. However, during the holidays, I must continue to organize my creative projects because neglecting them would mean not addressing the issues and areas where I need improvement, which accumulate over the course of a semester. The workload in each semester is no joke, and sometimes, despite putting in a lot of effort, the results may not meet my expectations. This, of course, is something that can’t always be controlled. Nevertheless, I hope to improve my ability to balance my academic responsibilities and my creative endeavors more effectively.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: elaineli012
• Other:  elainelix012@gmail.com

Image Credits
Xinyue（Elaine） Li (Chinese：李心悦)