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

Hi Jingtong, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Unlike most stories in the world, my parents weren’t as supportive as they are now when I first decided to pursue a professional path in arts and design. What they did right was not just becoming supportive later, but more importantly, recognizing my feelings, reflecting on their decisions, and even twisting them to elevate me onto a broader platform.

I wanted to apply to a visual arts specialty homeroom for middle school, but instead, they sent me to a military-regulated boarding school in a homeroom that focused on music—without any visual arts. It sounds like a joke, but to this day, I barely listen to music, even on the MTA trains where there’s no service. My brain just doesn’t resonate with it, yet I had to play the saxophone for three years while suppressing my passion for visual arts.

After seeing me resist going back to school every Sunday for three years, they finally realized this wasn’t what I wanted—I needed a platform to represent my identity. I still remember the deep conversation we had after I received my Zhong Kao (high school entrance exam) score. That was the moment they decided to step back from making decisions for me. More importantly, they assured me that their financial and emotional support would not depend on the path I chose.

Feeling that sense of freedom nurtured my creativity and encouraged my productivity. My parents knew that if they asked me about what I was doing, it would turn into a long story that might even contradict their own beliefs. So, to maintain balance in the family, we each stayed in our roles. With more freedom, I was able to see a clear path through all the thistles and thorns. Unlike many international students, I never planned to study abroad—my international curriculum only started in 10th grade. But I’m glad my family was able to push me to another stage, at least to the entrance of a larger world.

To be honest, they didn’t care about my performance. They only cared about whether I was enjoying the life I was living.

Jingtong, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Jingtong Yan is a New York City-based illustrator, art educator, printmaker, and paper engineer originally from Beijing, China. During her studies at the School of Visual Arts, she developed a unique specialty in blending paper engineering and printmaking into her narrative projects and pop-up books. She believes that visual arts serve as a universal form of self-expression, breaking language barriers and connecting people from diverse backgrounds. To put this belief into practice, she worked as a teaching assistant and summer camp visual arts instructor while still in school, gaining hands-on experience that shaped her future career.

After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, she established herself as both an illustrator and educator. Her illustration work spans a wide age range, with her commercial projects often reflecting the tastes and perspectives of her clients—or her own views on the world today. Meanwhile, her narrative and interactive book projects are designed to be joyful, immersive experiences for children. Her illustrations and children’s books have received recognition in international competitions such as 3×3, iJungle, and Hiii Illustration. Beyond professional work, her personal projects often draw inspiration from the memorable, atmospheric scenes of nighttime.

In her teaching practice, she has designed and refined curricula tailored to students from various cultural backgrounds. In Chinese-focused studios, she emphasizes foundational skills as a cornerstone of artistic development. For narrative-based courses, she integrates comics, graphic novels, and pop-up book techniques into her lessons, encouraging students to explore storytelling through visuals. Most recently, she has been using her art to support the community, working with public school students on mural projects that bring collective creativity into shared spaces.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I take pleasure in people appreciating my artwork, but nothing is more rewarding than seeing individuals from different backgrounds integrate my practice into their own experiences. In those moments, it feels like the soul I’ve poured into my creative process has found its soulmate—passing on to whoever is willing to give it a try.

I create pop-up books not just because I enjoy the mechanics behind them, but because I love showing others how they come to life. Whenever someone asks, I pull out my flat files and eagerly demonstrate as much as possible. I know firsthand how challenging it can be to perfect a working mechanism, so I want to share that knowledge rather than keep it to myself.

In my teaching, I rarely give strict prompts. Instead, I introduce a topic and encourage students to form their own perspectives—whether they embrace it or push against it. Even dislike can become a theme in their drawings. I firmly believe that visual arts should be a form of self-expression before it is ever seen as a marketable product.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Non-creatives often assume that artists get their inspiration from a sudden spark, like a lightning bolt of creativity striking out of nowhere. While it’s true that ideas sometimes appear unexpectedly, the reality is that, most of the time, artists sit in front of their desks, scratching their heads for hours just to get started. I’m one of them—I’ve never had an “A-ha” moment at the beginning of a project.

I approach my creative process with a structured, logical mindset. To narrow down my theme, I always start by asking myself three key questions: Who is my audience? What do I want to achieve with this piece? How can I differentiate my work from others? Answering and aligning these three questions gives me a clear vision of the project’s outcome. From there, I work backward—analyzing how I can achieve that outcome step by step.

Breaking larger projects into small, manageable fragments allows me to focus on individual elements rather than getting lost in the overwhelming scope of the whole piece. Creativity isn’t just about spontaneous inspiration—it’s about problem-solving, discipline, and refining ideas until they take shape.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jingtongyan.com
• Instagram: @yolande_double
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingtong-yan-8a5774270/