We recently connected with Julie Liang and have shared our conversation below.

Julie, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Yes, being an artist was the most significant choice I have ever made in my life so far. People always say it’s impossible for you to love your hobby still when it becomes your work, but it depends. At least doing something you like for work is better than doing something you hate! I admit sometimes the job you have to do is unexpected, or it’s different from what you thought you would, but imagine those people who have to work on something incredibly dull for 8 hours per day and are too exhausted to enjoy themselves after that. It’s actually hard to define what a “regular job” is. For me, it must be a job that has nothing to do with the arts but just to earn a life. I will do my best to complete my life with different art forms to let myself “live” and “live” simultaneously.

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?

I’m a character designer and storyboard artist; I create my characters and stories or help other directors/writers arrange and develop their ideas. Back in China, I had a full-time job as a character designer(but I did a few storyboards as well); I also have freelanced in animation or live-action projects, and each one left me with different experiences. As a character designer of an animation and commercial studio, I need to work on original and client projects at the same time. For the latter, people from different realms, like business, usually come with a specific reference and want something similar. It sounds more accessible, but we must alter it several times to meet the final requests.
But for freelancing, it’s much more fun to me. Usually, it’s a two-way selection; the director and I liked each other’s style, and we respect all the opinions. The best point is that we can always get inspired by each other while discussing; I guess every artist feels the same as I do.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When applying for art schools in the United States, I got lots of help from various people. Art schools and the way to get in are just so different in my country, so I was not that familiar with everything in the US, and it was hard for me to tell what opinions from people were valid or not. I had my way of creating art and doing my animation projects. But when I showed my work to a respected teacher, she thought my stuff was terrible and that I “really need to broaden my horizon.” She said I didn’t even know what animation is. It sounds ridiculous to me now, but I believed it then!
After that, I came with a feeling of inferiority. I thought about her and her words for a whole year long. But eventually, what I learned here is how free animation can be. My teacher was so rude and narrow on it.
No one has the right to tell another, “You don’t know what animation is.” You don’t have to have incredible drawing skills to be an animator or set a 24fps file to make an animation. The answer to “What is animation?” is “everything with your passion.”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Be loyal to the story, the audience, and the heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: lettertojulie.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliegotthis?igsh=c3U2ZGhoNzVnYmRi&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-liang-638871259/

Image Credits
images by Julie Liang