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

Long , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

The people around me, they somehow tend to feel I just naturally learnt about how to do art in a very young age, and that is one of the, I don’t know, hard part I feel. I don’t like people putting everything on so called ‘ born talent’ It took me years to actually learn how to say my language through art, but they keep on talking like I am natural to it. I know they might just being kind and say things like that, but I also feel they need to respect the fact that we artists are working hard on it, we spent time on it, we paid many efforts to gain it. And this misunderstanding somehow got even worse when recently, it touch the topic like AI and generated art. People would say well, we now need less effort and time to do it, so we are better. But one thing I know through long years of doing art, is you actually NEED to touch it. It is not something you can just, mimic. It’s more like a skill, an actual skill which you need to practice a lot. It is more like a reality? A tank of reality? You have to touch it, deeply with your own hand, or you will have nothing. And that is just a simple reason some of us do not like using AI or things like that. But when we trying to talk to people, explaining this true original reason, they just, could not understand. They have like a wall with us. And it is kind of funny to see people misunderstand us like that.

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

I am a freelance artist who graduated from School of Visual Arts. I have been doing freelance jobs for 3 to 4 years, and now still studying more to expand my career. The things I do are usually just illustrations for people who want them, widely-topics. I also learnt about concept art, so kind of my favorite thing to draw scenes and environments. I also did background drawings and color keys for animation studios, illustration and design for products, things like that…in general, I’m someone who interested in anything so I just expand and expand. My most proudest art…well, not existing yet I’d say. I’m a perfectionism so it is hard for me to feel proud. But I would feel really happy if someone use my art in the final product, or show them publicly with excitement after I gave them the commission works. Other than that, the art I did for SVA show in 2023, is also one of my favourites, as it combines nearly everything I like onto it, nature, mushrooms, characters, alien planets and most of all, scenes. Just, like a crazy dream there, and that made me happy.
The current thing I am working on is trying to write and design an original story, a science fiction animation maybe? I am trying hard to make it come true and maybe find a team for that. Yep, that is all.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I am a introverted person, so it was really really hard. Actually I built my audience more from daily life. I had many friends from SVA when I graduated or studied, they spread out into the industry after graduation, and provided me social links and more friends. So unlike many famous artists, I actually do not have a very prosper social media, but a rather close but vibrant social group. My suggestion for artists who want to build their social media presence, however, would be think and consider about it every time when you doing your work. Who you want to attract? What you want to present? It is not like a Instagram you post anything, it is like a place you show your best highlights. Also, adding descriptions or stories to your work, it help people understand it. And yes, if you have your favorite things, show them naturally from your work. You can always attract natural lovers on these topics on internet. Last but not the least, be kind and smart, you never know what you may run into under public lights.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say, the vision from another angle. In my logic, art is like symbols, math basics and words, it help build the world. When other scientists or writers use their ways to see the world, you learn about it with your own artistic ways. What is more, it is never too late or not right if you exceed your art boundary, what I am saying is, you are always welcome to put your feet into another field as an artist. It just brought me so much unepectations and experience being a simple artist.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/long-lin-946430236
• Other: artstation: https://www.artstation.com/raventhrax

Image Credits
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