Check Out Timothy Yan’s Story

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Timothy Yan.

Hi Timothy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always been drawing. My earliest memories of drawing were probably from preschool or kindergarten, where I distinctly remember drawing Batman. I didn’t know much about drawing back then, so he was drawn really wide and blocky, kind of like a Minecraft character.

I always drew in class or whenever I was bored and didn’t pay attention. I was pretty awful at every subject related to STEM, History, Languages, etc. If you name a subject, I’m probably not smarter than a 5th grader in it. I just really liked to draw, but I never really got serious about studying it or considered it as a profession until my junior year in high school.

I was failing all my classes and pretty much didn’t have any goal or direction in life, so I decided to do the only thing I’ve ever really done, which is draw. Thus, I began practicing how to actually draw, like studying anatomy and composition, doing line work, etc., so I could get into ArtCenter. But by the time it was my senior year, I knew I wasn’t ready. So, I went to Pasadena City College (PCC) for a little bit to appease my parents, find a job to pay for college, and continue honing my skills until I was ready.

When I was in my freshman year of college, I applied for an anatomy class so I could improve my Figure Drawings, but to my surprise and idiocy, I applied and somehow got into an actual human anatomy class for science majors. The moment they were talking about the mitochondria, I was out of there.

I dropped the class and decided to enroll in a nearby art school called Rainbow Art, where I was mentored by the husband and wife team Darren and Trisha Inouye, who now run their brand Giorgiko and are alumni of ArtCenter. Honestly, if it weren’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did, so I am immensely grateful to both of them, and I don’t know how else to repay them except to spread the word of their awesomeness. Thanks to them, I got into ArtCenter after a year or two of building my portfolio.

My ArtCenter journey was definitely interesting since I was accepted right when Covid hit. So, I spent half of my terms online with minimal peer interaction. I kind of became a recluse. It wasn’t all that bad, though; I didn’t have to drive to class, so that meant I could work on pieces up to the last minute! When I did get back, I met some amazing professors and people who helped push my art further.

Professors like Eric Nyquist, Steve Turk, and Jim Salvati all helped me further innovate my work. I also had a bunch of great friends to help me with critique, like Arthur Starling, Jerilyn Lee, Constant Person, Brandon Wong, Jacob Van Oosten, Indi Ho, and so much more! Well, to make a long story short, I went through ArtCenter, in my final term I finally got the peer interaction I wanted from it, and I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Now, I’m working as an office tech at LAUSD and doing commission work on the side until my art career takes off. Please hire me!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t know anyone who would ever say life is a smooth road. Maybe if you were like a gajillionaire’s offspring, sure. But to get back on point, there have definitely been struggles. Where do I even begin? I’ve had personal family drama, Covid—enough said. I think my own ego was kind of too huge at one point in my life, so that affected a lot of my friends and family; I’m sorry about that.

To this day, I still don’t think I socialize very well; I just ramble about topics I find interesting until I run out of them and go silent until I think of more. I’ve had issues with my appearance, which I didn’t really care about until my dad recently said, and I quote: ‘You look like a homeless person living in our house.’

The constant competitive drive to be better and not really achieving the result you want on an art piece or in life. I was told that I paint faces weirdly, so I have to go back to the basics. Not finding a job in my field. The list goes on. So yeah, there’s an ocean’s worth of struggles, and I could list more, but at the end of the day, suffering builds character, and we love to suffer out here.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I mostly create fan art of various franchises, primarily Fire Emblem, but I’ve been trying to branch out more recently so I’m not only known as ‘that one guy who just draws Fire Emblem.’ I specialize in digital paintings. While I used to work traditionally with pencil, paper, and pen, I found that whenever I colored the pieces, I enjoyed adding brushwork and details that the lines would cover up. So, I switched to digital painting because I found more joy in it and less pressure if I messed up.

I don’t really have any pieces I’m proud of; I always aim to improve my work. I’m constantly telling myself, ‘You can be better; your work is trash; it’ll never be as good as this person’s.’ That being said, while it isn’t a digital piece, I am proud of this dragon I cut out with a bandsaw. In terms of digital pieces, though, I’d say this painting I did of my friends as their DnD characters made me the most happy.

I’d like to believe that what sets me apart from other artists is what my Chinese name 文 添, translates to ‘To increase the arts.’ I’m willing to try my hand at different types of entertainment art like animation, storyboarding, background painting, etc. I honestly want to explore different parts of the art world. So, I’m in an endless struggle to constantly learn and improve.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is to never give up on what you’re passionate about.

It might sound a little cliché and naïve, but I believe in perseverance. If one path doesn’t work out, there’s probably more than one way to reach your goal. So, keep trying and exploring different approaches until you find success.

Pricing:

• Full-on painting commissions with the background are $100+
• Singular Character Paintings/Portraits are $50+
• Line Art/Sketch: $20+
• Doodles: $5
• Stickers: $3

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.timothyyan.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yanmanxplore/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/notifications/?filter=all
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/YanManXplore
• Other: https://www.reddit.com/user/YanManXplore/