Art & Life with Vicki Xu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vicki Xu.

Vicki, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Ever since I was a kid, my parents would drag me around after school to attend piano, ballet, figure skating, and of course, drawing classes. It was a hectic schedule, but I’m grateful to my parents for giving me such opportunities. I do believe that because of them, I was able to develop my artistic sense early on in life.

I loved drawing characters with childhood friends and coming up with these grander than life stories that we would act out. Naturally, this evolved into my passion for storytelling through illustration. I went on to attend an arts high school, LACHSA, where I met an array of different creative minds and teachers who guided me towards the world of illustration and animation.

With this path in mind, I applied to Art Center College of Design, where I’m currently majoring in illustration. Although it isn’t the most glamorous, I think Art Center has been the most challenging and rewarding years in my art career so far. I was able to create a strong support group of inspiring peers and learn and grow along with them. I found my place within animation and hope to grow more from here as I approach my graduation this coming fall.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Within my work, I like to focus on background designs for feature film/tv as well as children’s book illustration, kind of a mix of both animation and publication. I tend to gravitate towards whimsical themes like cute forest creatures, plants, and nature, and really, anything that excites me!

Typically I work digitally, but I tend to utilize textures similar to more traditional works with color pencil and watercolor to create little perfect imperfections. On the side, I do like to experiment with mixed media and paper in a way to break the frame and add dimension to my work; it’s also just really fun to work with my hands and change things up from time to time!

How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Honestly, this has been a question I’ve struggled with throughout my artistic journey. Coming from a competitive school made me quite doubtful of my work, where I only valued my art relative to other people’s success. In my head, if I wasn’t up to the standard of my peers, I was a failure, and undoubtedly, my art was never good enough for me.

Though it took quite some time, I finally realized that this negative loop of doubt wasn’t healthy. As an artist, I think what really defines success (as cheesy as it is) is finding joy within yourself and your art and just being able to inspire others. What matters most is meeting standards that you define yourself and having confidence in your work. As for me now, as long as I can educate, inspire, or simply put a smile on someone else’s face, then I’m happy.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work can be found on my website, and social media handle @thanksxu on Instagram and Twitter. Currently, I have an Etsy set up where I’m selling small prints, stickers, wood pins, and zines!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vickixu.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: thanksxu
• Twitter: thanksxu
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/thanksxu

Image Credit:
Vicki Xu

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