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

Hao, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project of mine is the Night-walking series. It is a series of illustrations about cities, myths, and my personal experience. And I am still creating artwork for this series. Since I was in art school, I have enjoyed creating artwork based on the place I am familiar with. When I was a Junior in college, I returned to my hometown Guangdong, China for a summer break, and took photos of the areas where I grew up. In the next semester, I created a series of watercolor cityscapes of a fantasy realm based on the photos.
The Night-walking series is similar but more stylized, and whimsical. It is a story about a piggy character wandering around the city at night and seeing mysterious things. The stage of this story shows a lot of places from my daily life, such as streets, parks, and shopping malls. The story is always at night time because I like how the city looks in the middle of the night. After all, it is so different and quiet. And sometimes it surprised me when I saw there were still a few people walking around on the street. And I would wonder what everyone doing at the time. I think most people would be sleeping and dreaming, and some would be playing video games or walking on their school walk. And some would be on their job at night time. Therefore, the city at night enchants my imagination so that I can throw in elements of urban legend, mythology, and monsters in my story.
On the other hand, this project is also a place for me to store memories and struggles. It is like my diary written with secret language and symbolism. I am sensitive and poor at speech, so this is a way to tell my story. I would personify my negative thoughts into mythical beings in my story. Some of the characters from the illustrations are important people from my life, and I illustrate them with a look that fits my mythical world.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born in Guangdong, China. I have had various hobbies since I was a kid. And doodling is always my favorite. After I graduated from high school in China, I had a chance to study abroad at Arkansas State University. That was my first opportunity to learn art from professionals. I have double majors in Studio Art and Graphic design. During my time at ASU, I had the chance to learn different ways to create art, such as ceramics, print-making, and sculpture. All kinds of experiences of art make me an open-minded human being. I enjoy seeing artwork in different styles and thinking about how they work their way out. And I also enjoy exploring my way of drawing. When I graduated from ASU, I was eager for more training. I wanted to know more about how to be an artist in the industry, so I went to San Francisco and started an MFA program as an illustration student at the Academy of Art University. The journey at AAU is mind-blowing. I got in touch with great teachers and students in many other emphases. They taught me how an artist and illustrations take part in a game, film, and animation. On the other hand, reading mythology stories is my all-time hobbit. I have read mythology from different countries since I was a child. When I grew older, I also enjoyed collecting folklore and urban legends. And now, the knowledge and stories about the whimsical world also merge into my personal style and make my art unique.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Is people! I used to be a shy and silent person. And always so afraid that whatever I did would give trouble to people around me if I talked or hung out with them. At the same time, I would feel out of place because I am a minority on so many things. However, I realized that people are way more geniality than I thought. Even if someone has an opposing point of view or a different hobbit, we can still tolerate each other. And I can always learn things that I never wanted to understand from others, which lets me refresh myself now and then.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative? Being an artist makes me have different ways to read the world and tell my stories. To create my original work, I have to look deeply into myself. In the process, I had a chance to detect the negative part of myself and find a way to solve the problem.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zuno.artstation.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hao_zuno/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hao-zheng/

Image Credits
Image credits: Hao Zheng