Today we’d like to introduce you to Zihan Lin
Hi Zihan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up in the 2000s, I was influenced by the golden era of manga and started drawing my own comic stories and characters. My brushstrokes were naive, but they later sparked my interest in storytelling, in the format of illustrations. I decided to go to art school and major in illustration, where I learned how the entire illustration industry works. Compared to fine arts, illustration is highly commercial because, ultimately, you are providing a service to the client. As a result, learning the rules is very important. This knowledge allowed me to quickly transition from being a student to a freelance illustrator. I was very lucky to get freelance work, ranging from album cover design to children’s books, right after I graduated with my bachelor’s degree.
I went to graduate school at Syracuse University then, where I encountered my second artistic direction, ceramics! I realize that the ceramics can be my canvas to transfer my illustrations to. This experience allowed to to do the illustration The House of Rabbit, which was selected into Illustration West and the Communication Art shortlist. I also wrote and drew a picture book, featuring a conversation between the art and the artisan. The ceramic gradually became a theme in my storytelling when I practiced it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I started freelancing after college, it was challenging to decide what I should draw. I could do a little of everything: hand-lettering, children’s books, or even product design, but there was no specific theme that I loved to draw. During this time, I got a commission to draw 13 illustrations for a story in Sherlock Holmes, my favorite novel that I grew up reading. Immediately, I realized this was what I wanted to do—book illustration. It felt so whimsical that, in one moment, I found what I wanted to draw in the future.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
All my illustration work is about storytelling. I adapt the methodology of comics to illustration, allowing the audience to create stories and imagine what’s happening in the image. Color is another element I experiment with a lot. It can reveal a lot of information in an illustration. For example, in Frog Tree, I use a contrast of magenta, purple, and green to create a mysterious atmosphere. They were not the color of the objects themselves, but subjectively colored to leave space for the audience’s imagination.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Besides illustration, a fun fact about me is that I’ve attended cooking school. Cooking and illustration may seem like two different fields, but they share a similarity: the collaboration of the brain and hands, which I really enjoy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zihanlin.me/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zlinmoriri/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@zlinmoriri
