We recently connected with Jiami Liang and have shared our conversation below.
Jiami, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I went through a lot of challenges before learning what I do now. At the beginning, I did not choose the field of illustration. My initial major was animation, because I think animation can satisfy the audience’s audio-visual experience, which is very beneficial for storytelling. But after four years of animation learning, I gradually discovered the disadvantages of animation: animation limits the imagination of the audience in some cases, because animation can meet almost all the audiovisual needs of the audience. And another disadvantage is that it is difficult to ensure the consistency of content in the production of animation, because animation, like movies, is an art of regret, and some initial ideas are difficult to stick to the end. In the end, I chose the field of illustration, because I can stick to my original ideas when creating illustrations and I can leave part of the imagination to the audience. I think this kind of creation is the real communication with the audience. But the animation learning experience is very important to me, because I learned how to use the camera to tell a story, which makes my illustrations more storytelling and more perspectives, such creative skills can help the audience better input into the work.
Jiami, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I used to be a manga maker and animator, and I have a very rich creative experience in both fields. It is precisely because I have animation and manga creation experience that my illustration creation has my own personal characteristics. I am very good at using the camera to tell stories, because in the creation of animation and manga, the camera can express emotions and information. Therefore, my illustrations pay more attention to the story and drama of the picture, and these works are more like scenes from animation or comics. In terms of style, I really like to use a cute, witty and slightly creepy retro style to present the picture, because I like to use such a contradictory and interesting style to tell some dark humorous stories. In terms of the content of my works, I am good at paying attention to some social issues and thinking about human nature, but I will not portray these realistic issues in a very explicit way, and I am better at using metaphors to show them implicitly. I also pay great attention to the level of refinement of the work, so the details in my work will be very rich. The above is the uniqueness and charm of my illustrations.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My driving force is the desire to express. I hope that I can show my views and some novel ideas to the audience through illustrations, and get feedback to form a communication. I have many goals, but what I want the most is that my comics or picture books can be published, or I can hold a personal art exhibition. They are my most urgent and desired goals at present, because they are the greatest recognition of my works.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think the society should hold some exhibitions regularly to help young artists display their works, and strengthen the publicity of these exhibitions, so that more people can pay attention to the works of these young artists. The society can also publish some magazines about young artists or regularly hold some competitions, and the works of the winners of these competitions can be used as posters or advertisements posted in subways and streets.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meee_liang/
- Facebook: Jiami Liang
- Twitter: animebaby6