We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ciel Chen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ciel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

When I was younger, art education wasn’t as widespread as it is now in China. My family had a rather limited and stereotyped understanding of artist career. Most of them thought that artists usually struggled to make a living and could only rely on selling their artworks to survive. So, even though I had a strong interest in artistic creation during my childhood, my family didn’t expect me to pursue it as a future career.

After a few years, I went to a boarding high school in the UK. One of my courses was Art, and through my studies, I gradually began to explore this field. I realized that the art industry is everywhere. It isn’t confined to high-end art exhibitions or disconnected from the real world. It can be commercialized and integrated into everyday life. This was when I first heard about the career of an illustrator.

I have a great passion for books and book making, which led me to develop an aspiration for illustrating in the realm of books. After getting to know some talented and young professional illustrators, I decided that I also wanted to pursue my passion in the same field as they did.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The theme of most of my earlier illustration works revolved around children’s picture books. For my undergraduate thesis project, we were asked to select a book from a book list and create multiple illustrations based on it. I chose Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, an old story I had read during my childhood. I incorporated some Eastern and Asian elements to visually illustrate the story, making it resemble the Peter Pan I had imagined in my childhood memories.

This series of illustrations garnered some attention on my social media. The Reader Magazine from China invited me to create their cover illustration, which was a rare opportunity for me. After graduation, I started to get commercial projects from various brands for package design and surface illustration. Most of these brands appreciated the Eastern elements present in my artwork, which gradually became a part of my style.

Currently, I still focus on narrative illustrations. In the future, I aspire to move into the editorial field. I enjoy using metaphoric techniques to depict stories, making the visuals more intriguing and thought-provoking, something worth pondering over.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Personally, I believe the most obvious benefit is that I genuinely enjoy my work a lot, and I can approach the challenges that arise in my career with a positive attitude because I’m passionate about it. For most freelance illustrators, each project has various content, which keeps things engaging and full of challenges. After completing a project, you can visually see the results of your efforts, which makes me feel that the work is meaningful and fulfilling.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

From an artist’s perspective, NFTs provide a new and direct way for artists to sell their digital creations, without relying on traditional art market structures or intermediaries like galleries. They also break down geographical barriers, and make the artworks accessible to a global audience through online platforms. However, the impact of NFTs on the art world might be more financial than artistic aspect. Artists might feel pressure to create works that are marketable as NFTs rather than pursuing their creative vision.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @cielxart