Daily Inspiration: Meet Yutian Ye

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yutian Ye.

Hi Yutian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I was born and raised in Wuhan, China. I moved to US in 2015 and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2019 with a dual degree in Illustration and Nature, Cuture, Social Science. Throughout my whole life, I have experience working and living in US, Asia, Australia, and Europe. 

In my junior year of college in US, I started my career as a freelance concept artist with several leading game studios in China, including Tencent and NetEase games, through which I learned to work and think like a professional artist. After graduation, I started my first in-house job as a Riot Illustrator Intern and participated in the incubation of Legends of Runeterra (LoR), before the game’s release. I was also recommended by my Manager, Andrew Silver, for continuation at Shanghai Kudos Studio as a Senior Illustrator for LoR. In addition to technical skills, I showcased interpersonal and collaboration skills as a bilingualism through supporting team members in facilitating the entire feedback flow across the international offices of Kudos and Riot in Los Angeles, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei. 

After two years of contributing to Riot gaming projects, I was offered an opportunity as a Senior Character Concept artist on Diablo Immortal at NetEase. After four months of working with their team, I was promoted to Lead Illustrator due to my insights and contributions to this project. 

Throughout my tenure as a Lead, I have crafted the style and pipeline guides for Diablo Immortal. I have recruited and cultivated an in-house team of 5 people and was supervising the collaboration with 3 freelance contractors, 5 outsourcing studios, and 3 international offices global wide to deliver the assets containing character portraits, icons, 

marketing illustrations, skin illustrations, and character key arts. Through practice, I also invented a new 2D-3D pipeline technique for mass production. Despite devoting significant energy to management-related activities, I also personally conduct art production-related tasks at a senior quality level and in a quantity sufficient to be a role model for our team while simultaneously establishing high performance standards. 

Through the team’s efforts for one year, we have reduced average illustration cost by 65% and decreased the average illustration production period by 51%, with a simultaneous increase from 14% to 97% in artwork milestone approval rate (depending on the project). By resolving output and budget crises in my specialty area, I was rated an “A” in the first year and an “S” in the second year, with 100% of KPIs achieved as a lead in all performance reviews while at NetEase. 

I joined Ubisoft Massive last year under the passion and curiosity of production of AAA PlayStation games and pipelines. Here, I have learned a lot about AAA pipeline and production as a Senior Marketing Artist in the Brand team. I took a month to adapt into a workflow with Snowdrop Engine and brought some solid input on leveraging the art style of our games under Division and Avatar IP. I have deliver the production of a variety of publishing art on multiple platforms, as well as a variety of in-game 2D assets and season updates for Division 2 and Avatar:Frontiers of Pandora. 

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?
The path had never been smooth. 

On my journey pursuing art, I have encountered numerous obstacles, such as lack of support from my family, career development and technical issues, industry upturns and downturns, and so on. Over the past 10 years, I have moved to 4 countries over 3 continents and eight different cities for pursuing my degree and my career. I have wandered in a foreign land for many years, all by myself. However, the biggest hurdles I faced were actually the weight of trivial matters and an immense sense of loneliness. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In my junior year of college in US, I started my career as a freelance concept artist with several leading game studios in China, including Tencent and NetEase games, through which I learned to work and think like a professional artist. After graduation, I started my first in-house job as a Riot Illustrator Intern and participated in the incubation of Legends of Runeterra (LoR), before the game’s release. I was also recommended by my Manager, Andrew Silver, for continuation at Shanghai Kudos Studio as a Senior Illustrator for LoR. In addition to technical skills, I showcased interpersonal and collaboration skills as a bilingualism through supporting team members in facilitating the entire feedback flow across the international offices of Kudos and Riot in Los Angeles, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei. 

After two years of contributing to Riot gaming projects, I was offered an opportunity as a Senior Character Concept artist on Diablo Immortal at NetEase. After four months of working with their team, I was promoted to Lead Illustrator due to my insights and contributions to this project. 

Throughout my tenure as a Lead, I have crafted the style and pipeline guides for Diablo Immortal. I have recruited and cultivated an in-house team of 5 people and was supervising the collaboration with 3 freelance contractors, 5 outsourcing studios, and 3 international offices global wide to deliver the assets containing character portraits, icons, 

marketing illustrations, skin illustrations, and character key arts. Through practice, I also invented a new 2D-3D pipeline technique for mass production. Despite devoting significant energy to management-related activities, I also personally conduct art production-related tasks at a senior quality level and in quantity sufficient to be a role model for our team while simultaneously establishing high-performance standards. 

I joined Ubisoft Massive last year under the passion and curiosity of production of AAA PlayStation games and pipelines. Here, I have learned a lot about AAA pipeline and production as a Senior Marketing Artist in the Brand team. I took a month to adapt into a workflow with Snowdrop Engine and brought some solid input on leveraging the art style of our games under Division and Avatar IP. I have deliver the production of a variety of publishing art on multiple platforms, as well as a variety of in-game 2D assets and season updates for Division 2 and Avatar:Frontiers of Pandora. 

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in a family where my father was an orthopedic surgeon, and my mother was a housewife. They put in their best efforts to ensure my education was a priority. However, coming from a typical Asian family, there was a lot of stress, and my parents had high expectations and strict control over me when I was young. This upbringing played a role in shaping my personality, making me strive for perfection and push myself relentlessly. 

In such an environment, art and creativity were never encouraged during my childhood. I was never approved to pursue a career as an artist until college. Instead, I focused on studying business and economics throughout high school. However, I am glad that I managed to convince my parents to allow me to attend the Rhode Island School of Design once I received an offer. This marked the beginning of my journey as an artist at the age of 18, finally being able to live authentically as myself. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstation.com/euniceye
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009122511777
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yutian-ye-141062176

Image Credits
NetEase
Riot Games