We were lucky to catch up with Lydia(Qixuan) Tang recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lydia(Qixuan), looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

From the moment I opened the first magazine I ever read, “Zhiyin Manke,” I decided to be an artist who could illustrate stories visually. I still remember the excitement of seeing so many colorful comics and illustrations in the magazine. From then on, I kept copying and studying images of my favorite comic artists and illustrators. Even if my family didn’t support me in spending so much time drawing, I would buy magazines secretly and then copy them to study. At that time, I needed to understand that there were many different categories of drawing. Still, I just felt happy to draw and wanted to keep drawing in the future. Then I enrolled in an art high school and started to learn basic techniques such as sketching and rendering. I got to know the different directions in the drawing. The desire to become an illustrator became more apparent.

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 keep drawing and studying famous artists and then apply to the art school I admire to learn how to be a professional illustrator. I like to do illustrations for books or covers. I am good at rendering the details of the object and using unique compositions to tell a story by drawing illustrations. My works are all very story-telling, and most of them are surreal or fantasy themes.

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

I wish to know and study digital drawing a little earlier because I started using procreate and photoshop in college. I often felt a step behind other people in school because they know more about the software. Hand drawing and digital drawing are very different; until I went to college, I was drawing with traditional media. I needed more time learning all the digital painting software functions that others already knew because I wanted to draw digitally. It makes me feel unconfidence sometimes.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

There is a particular goal driving my creative journey, which is that I want to create my own story and finally publish it as an art book. So I always keep improving my story-telling and drawing skills and illustrate the image in my mind in a complete illustration. Sharing my stories with others and making readers engage and enjoy would be my happiest.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kirishimakaneko.wixsite.com/lydiat/all
• Instagram: @lllllllyyydia_t
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Lydia(Qixuan) Tang