We were lucky to catch up with Lia Liao recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lia, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I believe work as an artist is the one right and proper job for me. Starting from my senior school, I have spent much more time in my hobbies than my academic major, and eventually made hobby to my career. I enjoyed the life that can consider entertainment as an input, such as video games, books, films, and then translated them into my illustration works, it becomes a virtuous circle. Although being an artist always means less payment and unstable income, but every time I got commissioned and recognized and approved by major press and publishers, it gave me the passion to boost the circle. Sometimes it does become a problem when there’s no commission for weeks, but as long as my income can cover my cost, I kinda enjoy this gentle pace of living.
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
I currently work as an illustrator, providing editorial illustrations for magazines and book covers for book publishers. Before I started my art career, I used to be a student of psychology, basically I taught myself how to do illustrations by watching films， playing video games and entertaining myself. Most of my early works are based on a content, which concerned my for a long time that my works were not generated from daily life like most of artworks, but somehow it perfectly suited the requirement of editorial market.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I have got a so-called ultimate goal, that can join the creative team of a film made by one of my favorite directors or create book covers for my favorite authors. They inspired me to start my art career, so I would call it a dream come true moment.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I think press and publishers should pay more to artists. Recently the situation has been mentioned many times in our community, involving The New York Times who paid only $300 for an illustration. Illustrators have been paid the same price since 10 years ago, regardless of the rate of inflation. If creatives cannot even afford their lives, I don’t think artworks can remain the same quality and quantity. The other thing is about AI generated drawings, which has been quite popular among social media these days. However, these works are violating the copyrights of artists and even are damaging the income of certain markets.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.lialiaoland.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lialiaoland/
Image Credits
Lia Liao