Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Changyu Zou. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Changyu thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The idea of being a freelance illustrator was first born when I was in college. I studied visual communication design in college and realized that I wasn’t cut out to be a graphic designer. Because I seem to be more interested in images than rational design rules. I enjoy the process of emotional thinking and uncertainty when drawing. I think drawing can bring a lot of fun to life, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment when my drawings are published in publications. So when I was in graduate school, I started to study illustration and began my path of art creation.

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 am a freelance illustrator, graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with an MFA in Illustration, and was an intern illustrator for Nonviolence International New York. I prefer to draw by hand and enjoy creating illustrations with gouache, crayon and collage. Most of my creative inspiration comes from words and I like to convert my feelings about words into images. I really like reading poetry because it is an imaginative literary style and it can give me unlimited imagination. I hope my illustrations can impress the audience through beautiful colors and endless imagination.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I think for me, it’s how to balance the relationship between business and art. I think it is important to know how to make my art commercial while maintaining its original content before I start my artistic journey. I think it is sometimes impossible to achieve a good balance between business and artistry, especially when I am still a newcomer, I still have to listen to the advice of my client to a large extent, and sometimes I will give up a lot of the parts you want to create. So when I first started my artistic journey, I was curious to know how experienced illustrators balance art and business.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

It’s a happy thing for me when my drawings are published, or used in the mass media. So my current goal is to work with a lot of media, like advertisements or books, and I hope my drawings can appear more widely in front of the public.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://changyuzou.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changyu_zou/