Today we’d like to introduce you to Chuchu Wang.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am from China and am now a New York-based freelance illustrator. I started to learn illustration three years ago when I came to the MFA Illustration Program at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). I came to the United States five years ago and got one Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago at first. My background includes an Architectural art design degree from the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts. I think different Education backgrounds give me a different perspective on this world. I graduated from FIT this summer. I wrote and illustrated one children’s book called “Rus and Moose” for my visual thesis. This is a fictional story inspired by my experience, with an element of exaggeration. This story is talking about one truck driver and a moose driving a big semi-truck having a road trip. This truck driver is actually my husband.
My husband Rus was a long-haul truck driver, and before we were married, he had been driving a 70-foot-long semi-truck across the United States. I also lived with him in the truck during summer and winter vacations. Life on the truck was interesting. I treated every day as a road trip. Thanks to his unique job, I have been to forty states in the United States and experienced many different cultures. When I talked to my friends about the new things I saw during the trip, I realized through their reactions that ordinary people have no idea what it looks like inside the truck, even though you see trucks on the road every day. I told my friends that each truck had two large double beds, a refrigerator, a small dining table, and a microwave. Whoever heard about this was quite surprised. I realized it was a good subject for my book, and my unique experience allowed me to focus my perspective on it. After all, not all illustrators are married to truck drivers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Since I made my decision, I want to become an illustrator. I work really hard to make it happen. The universe is helping me too. I am lucky that I almost won all the awards in my first year of study. My “Collecting Love” picture book made me win my first grand slam! All these awards make me more confident and show me that I chose the correct path.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I want to talk more about my children’s book, which I just finished. This book must be the proudest artwork I have ever done. My style of drawing this book is organic and sincere. I didn’t use too many fancy brushes and textures. I want this simple little story to express the most profound theme, the relationship between man and animals, nature, and family.
Rus and Moose is a 32-page children’s book. I like to draw things about love, animals, family, and friendship. I am a positive person. So you won’t find anything dark and negative in my drawings. I like to bring happiness to the audience’s faces. I fabricated the character of Moose. He is like me, who just experienced the truck for the first time. He sees everything with new eyes, smells and touches everywhere, and occupies too much space. But his company made a difference in Rus’s life. The life of a truck driver is very dull. They often have to drive for more than ten hours at a time, and they must strictly abide by the delivery time. But when Rus found Moose, they became friends and shared this journey. This is the story of my book.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I remember that I did a project in kindergarten mama. We collected a lot of pencil stubs in a big jar. we use them to make a DIY frame and put our picture in the middle. Family means a lot to me. The happiness I had in childhood will not stay far away from me even though I am far away from home now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chuchuwang.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chuchuwang_art/
