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Instagram: @jiananliuillustration Website: www.jiananliu.com
1. What's your story? Where are you from?Hello, I’m Jianan and I was born and raised in Beijing, China. After four years of studying animation and one year of working, I decided to go to the States and study illustration. This year is my thesis year, so for now, I’m working on my thesis. I’m really excited and scared :) 嗨，我是佳男，自北京,中国。在本科时期我的专业是动画，在上了四年学并且工作了一年之后，我决定到美国继续学习插画。今年是我研究生第二年，目前在准备毕设，既紧张又很期待自己能做出好的作品:)
2. Tell us about your aesthetic.What I love is capturing the ordinary and trivial details of life. Most of my works are not of realistic figures. I really enjoy drawing weird figures as I feel like they give an extremely strong sense of expression. However, I think reasonable exaggeration and changes can only be done by understanding the real structure of an object. I often use changeless lines in order to simplify the image and structure. Meanwhile, I choose simple and pure colors to avoid colorful effects. I’d like to use those simple elements to dig out the meaning beneath the drawing. 我很喜欢去捕捉生活中的一些小细节，我觉得那些琐碎的细节能给我很大的启发。我画的大部分人物都不是那种写实的人物，我特别喜欢这种形体肢体的变形和夸大，感觉像是一种特别夸张又强烈的表达。但我认为这种夸张和夸大都要建立在你已经知道物体本身真是的结构之上。线条对我来说也十分重要，我更喜欢变化较少的线条，有一种稳定感。同时，我选择简单和纯色来避免过于色彩缤纷的效果。我喜欢用这些简单的元素来挖掘绘画的意义。3. What is your favorite medium and why?I’d say digital is my favorite medium for now. It’s just cheaper and more productive for me :) But I also really like printmaking and gouache. 目前来说，在电脑上画画应该是我最喜欢的方式了，便宜而且效率很高。我也尝试过很多不同的媒介，印刷和水粉是我很喜欢的两种4. What is your artistic process like?Basically, I will make a sketch on paper first. This gives me more freedom to play with the layout and composition while allowing me to feel pretty relaxed while I work.. After I finish the sketch I’ll just go back to my computer. I always have simple lines and color shapes on my drawing. If I’m doing work for a client, I like to have a nice and deep conversation to better understand what they want. 总的来说，我会现在纸上比较自由的画很多很多的草稿，我喜欢在纸上胡乱的画，这样很容易找到我想要的构图和组成。定下草稿之后就会再回到电脑上完成剩下的工作。画面通常就是比较松弛的线加上大的色块。如果是和客户的合作，我很喜欢在一开始和对方深入的沟通，了解对方的需求。5. Who and/or what inspires your work?Henri Matisse and lots of illustrators from today, such as Leslie Herman, Dadu Shin, Ryōji Arai and Maira Kalman. Music is another part of my inspiration, the feeling of one song can give me tons of ideas. Henri Matisse(亨瑞马蒂斯) 以及很多当代的插画家们，比如Leslie Herman, Dadu Shin, Ryōji Arai and Maira Kalman.6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?It is a big part of my life, 24/7. I think it gives me a chance to express my own opinion about this world and it also lets me see things in different ways. 画画就是我的生活，哈哈。我觉得画画给了我一个机会让我能够大声的去表达我自己的意见，同时也能让我有一个新的角度去看世界。
7. Where did you study?I studied at Beijing University of Technology as an undergraduate, afterwards, I worked as a graphic designer for about a year before deciding to continue my study at Syracuse University studying illustration. Currently, I’m pursuing my master's degree in illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art. 我本科是在北京工业大学，在这之后作为平面设计师工作了一年。随后去了雪城大学学习插画。现在我在马里兰艺术学院读插画硕士。8. Where do you see yourself in five years?I imagine that I’ll work as an editorial illustrator in NYC or somewhere in California :) 希望我能在加州或者纽约做自由职业插画家。9. What about in ten?I hope to still be doing the same kind of work. I’d like to have enough money to buy a small apartment and maybe have a dog and a cat. 希望我还能在工作并且有足够的钱买一个小公寓再养养猫猫狗狗 :)10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?I want to make some good and cool stuff to impress people. 我想做一些酷酷的东西，让大家眼前一亮。
11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?Thai Food! (without any hesitation) 泰式！12. Favourite book?I’d like to share two books: Here By Richard McGuire and West with the Night By Beryl Markham. Both of them have the feeling of loneliness and emptiness 我想和大家分享两本书。Here 和 夜航西飞, 两本书都有一点那种空旷无垠的感觉。13. Favourite genre of music?Pop mandarin music in the ’90s. Also, Childish Gambino is my favorite now :) 我很喜欢90年代流行歌曲, 现在最喜欢的是Childish Gambino14. What are your hobbies?I like swimming, hiking and Karaoke with my friends. 平时会游泳,徒步之类的活动，也很喜欢和朋友们一起唱K15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?A lawyer? 可能是律师？  Comments are closed.
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