Q&A
Tell us something interesting about yourself
I once climbed a big boulder at the base of the Himalaya mountain.
Current job title:
Author/Illustrator.
How would you describe your identity?
Chinese.
Tell us your favourite medium for reading:
Physical books which you can hold and smell the paper and ink.
Tell us your favourite location for reading:
By a window seat on a train where you can glimpse in between the pages of the passing landscape.
Book title:
Through The Forest.
What inspired your creative process in writing or illustrating your book?
I always draw my inspiration from my daily observations of the interesting things around me, people, places, artworks, even a flavour or a smell that brings back a memory from your childhood. I always bring a small sketchbook with me whenever I go and when I observe something interesting I start sketching, from there a kind of a "daydream" process happens where I start to build upon my sketch characters, environments, worlds and ultimately stories.
Favourite character or moment from the book – and why?
Emptiness is my favourite character for me, I liked creating the character, drawing on an intangible feeling. My hope is that readers of all type will find comfort in the lovable, friendly giant.
What themes or messages does your book raise?
This is a story about feeling lost and growing up. Whether as a child or an adult, there are always moments of feeling lost and empty, and at times like these, it is important to remember the memories of your past, whether good or bad they are a part of who you are, and will be able to guide you through the forests of your life.
How would you describe your artistic or writing style in three words?
Dreamy, Thoughtful, Heartfelt.
What aspect of the story did you most connect with, and how did it shape your illustrations?
Feeling lost is definitely an aspect of the story I resonated with. Especially given that the story was conceived during the COVID lockdown I think everyone all felt a little bit lost. This drove my illustration art direction - I used watercolour and ink to bring out that lost and dreamy feeling of the forest, being something that's both enveloping the characters in a sort of fog, but also hinting at the potential on the other side.
Materials and techniques used for this book’s illustrations:
Watercolour, ink, pencil and digital editing.
Favourite illustration – and why?
Where Emptiness opens up to the boy and says that he is full, it has such an emotional high and I used a double spread to emphasis on this, and you can see a close up of all the objects they picked up together. It was really fun to design and draw this spread and it is easily my favourite.
