We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Xinyu Cao a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Xinyu , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I get all my living expenses from various visual design jobs, but it didn’t start that way, specifically, it started in 2021.
I think my experience can be described by dividing it into 2 parts through time. The first part is 2017-2020, at that time I was still a library information cataloger, my job had nothing to do with art and design, but I always loved to draw, every day when I came home from work I started drawing, this habit continued until 2019, I suddenly realized that I had accumulated dozens of works that looked quite good, and I was looking forward to the chance that these works could be exhibited, and after being rejected by many galleries, I finally found a basement to start the first exhibition of my life, and at the same time sold my small prints for the first time; Since then, I have had the thought that I should be more than just a painting enthusiast, I could also be an illustrator. In 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19, it became very difficult to go out and hold art exhibitions, and I returned to the previous state once again, that year I accumulated more works, and also changed my job, from a library information cataloger to a visual art designer, to a certain extent, a hobby became a job, in addition to a fixed monthly salary, I also began to take on all kinds of illustration visual collaboration projects. The second part is that since 2021, my second solo exhibition has been held in a small coffee house, more people have discovered my work through social media, which has brought me more commercial collaborations and awards in the industry, and I have established my own illustration brand, I AM CALM, and found a unique identity for my illustrations. I think it’s important to keep the love of creating, find your own identity and stick to it and it will really pay off.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hi everyone, I’m Xinyu, I’m a visual art designer and illustrator.
My graphic visual work was selected into the annual recommendation unit of the ‘19th Asia-Pacific Design Annual’; while my illustration works were selected into the 2023 Andersen International Art Exhibition and the 8th CIB China Illustration Biennial. At the same time, some of my works have been published in the art and design journal ‘Creative Quarterly’ (US) and the well-known Chinese magazine Modern Weekly. Past few years, I have also held and participated in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Copenhagen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shenzhen. My illustrations have co-branded with Raffles, IKEA, IM Automobile, Chery Automobile, HENGJIAN HOLDING, and Guangzhou IFC etc.
I first entered the art and design industry out of interest, I used to see the works of many professional illustrators and designers in the industry, and for a while I fantasized that one day I could be one of them; over time, I gradually changed from drawing to please myself to considering the needs of my clients and maintaining my own unique design style.
Currently I provide design services including: vector flat commercial illustration, key visual design, branding design and commercial co-branding licenses. currently I am focusing on solving graphic visual presentation problems for my clients, I fully respect and consider the needs of my clients, and at the same time I always give my own design language in my design, so you can always feel my design tone in different projects I have designed in the past, and I always try to make the design become interesting.
The design experience I am most proud of is my brand I AM CALM, which brings fun and empathy to the viewer. The brand focuses on anti-anxiety and encourages people to find the fun in life; the brand has a total content volume of over 100 pieces of work, including highly relevant illustrations, installations and audio-visuals, and has already had nearly 10 exhibitions in different cities. I hope that my work will become more accessible to a wider range of people and that they will have interesting interactions with it.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
In my creative journey, I always expect to build my own series of visual stories that can express real life with creativity and evoke the emotional resonance of the audience. For example, my branding project I AM CALM is a long-term creative project focusing on anti-anxiety and inner healing, which started as a sketch and gradually turned into a series of illustrations, and then into installations and audio-visual works, in which the images, words and sounds are all taken from life; through the exhibitions in different regions and developed social media, more and more people can learn about my project works and may have new thoughts about anxiety.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I’m no longer confused about what I want to express, I have a clear direction and motivation to create!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithtsaoart/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinyu-cao-20121817a/?otpToken=MTUwNDFmZTExYjI4Y2VjNGIxMjQwNGVkNDYxYmUwYjA4N2M5ZDM0OTkxYWQ4ZjYxNzZjMjAzNjY0ZjUzNTVmM2ZlZDZkZjk1NjFmMGUzYzY0ZjhkZDI2YWU4OWU4ZTQ5NTZjYTA3NTEyNThjYWI2N2EwODI2MCwxLDE%3D&midSig=1nuwTCBqRpOX41&eid=brfew1-lrlyr9wk-qs&midToken=AQHCrpdW0o5jug&trkEmail=eml-email_network_conversations_01-header-0-profile_glimmer-null-brfew1%7Elrlyr9wk%7Eqs-null-null&trk=eml-email_network_conversations_01-header-0-profile_glimmer&originalSubdomain=cn
- Other: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/5db403360000000001005675?xhsshare=CopyLink&appuid=5db403360000000001005675&apptime=1705754264
Image Credits
Xinyu Cao