iMAGINE FX

Interview Wenquing Yan

INTERVIEW LEARN FROM

YUUMEI

AS SHE TALKS ABOUT HER LIFE EXPERIENCE AND HER WORKS

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AMAZING FANTASY ILLUSTRATIONS

DISCOVER

DIGITAL ART

ILLUSTRATION! February 2019

GS OF A DISILLUSIONED IDEALIST WENQUING YAN THE ART AND MUSIN

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Artist Portfolio

MIDNIGHT RAINBOW “Finally had some time to paint between all the projects. I think I’m too in love with the Milky Way and paint it all the time”

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February 2019

Interview Wenquing Yan

WENQUING YAN

Gary Evans meets the team behind some of the most iconic characters ever created, and uncovers the ethos that makes it

February 2019

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Artist Portfolio inspiration for “1000 W0RDS” and

BRAVE NEW WORLD “Rise and greet each new day with determination.”

Her specialty is digital art in an anime style, but she often employs traditional watercolors and other elements. Her cause is saving and preserving what’s left of the Earth’s wildlife and its environment; she donates large portions of profits from her artworks to a host of wildlife and environmental organizations and urges all deviants and others to do the same.

Artist

PROFILE

Wenquing Yan

LOCATION: US FAVOURITE ARTISTS: Andrew Wyeth, Bill Watterson, Leo Espinosa, Tatsuro Kiuchi.

SOFTWARE USED: Photoshop, Flash WEB: www.yuumeiart.com

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February 2019

WHITE & BLACK Yuumei means light and darkness, strange and deep, hades, and semidarkness. Yuumei says,” I picked that name when I was 12, I googled random japanese words and found one that meant light and darkness.

The 12 year old me was all “light and darkness! That’s so deeeeeeeep!”..so I got that name”.

Yuumei or simply Wenqing Yan is a Chinese American artist, environmentalist and cartoonist.

She is well known for her web comic series fish eye placebo, and knite. She is also known for her Anext Cat ear headphones, which is sold at brookstone.

Wenqing Yan was born in Sichuan, China, on 11 May 1990..

Her mother left for the United

BREATHE “This painting is inspired by my recent trip to China.

Growing up there I always had poor health and would cough up a lot of phlegm.”

States when Yan was 5 years old but Yan remained in China, living there for another 4 years with her grandparents while her father was away on business trips. When she was 9 yeas old, she went and joined her mother in the U.S. around the same time her parents

Interview Wenquing Yan MOON CATCHER “An old commission I did for a client.

I’m too busy these days to work on comissions but when I do, they’re always fun :)”

February 2019

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Artist Portfolio BETWEEN TIME AND SPACE “Getting back in touch with the more whimsical side of myself.”

MY INNER SANCTUARY “Moving to the melody Flowing into harmony All my sorrows behind me My inner sanctuary”

divorced. She started her career by doing commission on Deviant Art and after years of commitment, she started her own business. As Yuumei says “ my art career began during without me realizing.I started taking commissions to help with living expenses, but that work out so well that I realized I could do that for a living.I started drawing comics in my free time and before I knew it, publishers began contacting me and that’s what I kept doing.”

UNUSAL METHODS Her specialty is digital art in an anime style, but she often employs traditional watercolours and other elements. Her cause is saving and preserving what’s left of the Earth’s wildlife and its environment; she donates large portions of profits from her artworks to a host of wildlife and environmental organizations and urges all deviants and others to do the same. The rupture between mother and father had great impact on her and themes of divorce can be frequently noticed in her work. In 2008 at age 18 she enrolled and she graduated in 2011 majoring in art with focus on

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February 2019

Interview Wenquing Yan MIDNIGHT RAINBOW “Finally had some time to paint between all the projects. I think I’m too in love with the Milky Way and paint it all the time”

WONDERLAND “I’ve always loved Escher’s mind bending work and I’ve been really into drawing glass lately so it’s only natural to mix the two.”

Images and colloquial dialogues flow through my mind... that’s how I create my stories

environmentalism and cyber activism.

Japanese animation and comics influence Wenqing Yan’s artistic style, though her inspiration comes from many sources, such as nature, personal life experiences and other artists. Yuumei says For the content of my art ,the

LEAD ME TO NIGHT “Lead me to night Feelings alight Pain becomes yesterday Tomorrow isn’t far away.”

inspiration comes from everything personal experiences, current events, I try to reference current events in most of my comics because I personally care a lot about those issues and I believe that by bring them up in comics, other people might also become interest.

Her most famous works include the one shot comic 1000 WORDS, the series Knite and Fisheye Placebo. Yuu may say” Before I made “1000 W0RDS”, I created “Tape it Back Together” and I

received a lot of encouraging feedback. Children of broken families would tell me about their personal experiences which all served as inspiration for “1000 W0RDS” and “Rumination”.

February 2019

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Artist Portfolio CYPHER PUNKS “Living under an authoritarian regime is not fun. Extensive censorship meant no Facebook, no Youtube, and no porn.”

“ACTIVIST & ENVIRONMENT ART” One of the things she loves to draw are topic of pollutions Wenqing Yan’s art focus on environmentalism and cyber activism artistic style and also Japanese animation and comics. Her inspiration comes from many sources, such as nature, personal life experiences, and other artists.

As an example Fisheye as Yuumei say “I started the webcomic Fisheye Placebo many years ago and had to stop due to hand pain. For the last few years I’ve been working with an amazing team of 3D artists to help me continue my comic by using 3D models as bases to quickly paint over. As we get closer to finishing preparing all the models needed for the comic,

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February 2019

I’ve been excitedly testing them out. It’s really nice to jump back into this dystopian cyberpunk world of neon lights and hidden secrets “Placebo and Project WE . Project WE was put on hold as she began working on current issues and related themes dealing with the environment, social science, and cyber culture.

Her gallery of illustrations revolve around similar themes depicting environmental pollution and society. Yan has been credited for participating in an online event called GO GREEN which brought awareness of environmental issues to the online community.

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW

Interview Wenquing Yan PARADISE WITHIN “In the freezing cold of...

California.... I’m dreaming of a tropical paradise”

RE-IMAGINE

“I will not sit,I will not lie,I will take my stand and show the world my vision of a better tomorrow”

REFLECTION “I can’t repaint reality to reflect the colors of my dreams.So I’ll repaint the reflections and look down into my fantasy”

February 2019

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Artist Portfolio

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February 2019