Today we’d like to introduce you to Chenyu 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?
At the very beginning, it was probably just my parents who wanted to help cultivate a few hobbies in me. After extensive exposure to and study of many hobbies and specialties, I gradually gave up many of them, and only drawing stayed in my life for the longest time.
I can’t explicitly tell the causal relationship between liking it, being good at it, sticking to it for a long time, and feeling happy and accomplished. These all seem to happen at the same time. For me, they are all about drawing, the creations. It became part of me and my chosen lifestyle.
I didn’t go through a rigorous and systematic study of art before high school. I studied jewelry design as an undergraduate and applied to illustration as a graduate student. My professional direction may be changing, but these are just differences in technique and expression. I think more, get more able to understand art and creation, improve my creative ability and methodology, and receive a lot of help and support. And most importantly, I have gradually found and been able to face myself. There were things I had to overcome and solve at each stage, and luckily I did give my answers and grew from them. I’m happy I’m still on this path.
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?
I don’t think it’s a smooth path. For the life I have chosen, I have to fight for it. In addition to the specific problems I have to constantly face, two kinds of mental pressure are always with me. One is the pressure from my parents. For more than a decade, I have struggled with my parents. No one in my family works in the arts, so they don’t know what to expect from a career in this field. I’m still trying to figure out what I can do and what I want to achieve. Without much confidence or a clear plan, I can’t give them promises or guarantees about how many achievements I will make. When I was in high school, I had to work hard to prove myself and get them to agree that I would study art and enter the industry after graduation. Now, I still have to prove my ability to survive in the face of the impact of the development of artificial intelligence on the viability of original artists. My parents still utter exhortations that go against my creed in life from time to time. I think I’ll only get a say in the relationship if I’m competent enough. I hope that someday I can do something that will make them feel fulfilled and valued.
Secondly, I struggle with the gap between my ability and the requirements to survive in this industry. I always wonder, do my abilities deserve to be called an illustrator or an artist? Am I really worth someone paying for my work? Are my ideas and skills irreplaceable? Each time, there would only be a brief moment of satisfaction in making something, and then a new anxiety and insecurity would quickly arise. Especially with the attack of AI on the market, believing in the irreplaceability of thoughtful, original art, the individual style of the human artist requires a strong personal will. I have repeatedly defended this point in my struggles with my family, but it is just a belief that no one can prove. The only solution to this is to keep learning and creating, and what is truly valuable will only come from living thinking and output.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an illustrator who is also interested in designing and animation. I really like and am relatively good at expressing abstract concepts. Abstract topics are more likely to trigger my thoughts and imagination. I enjoy drawing a picture just like writing a sentence to express my thinking. I’ll be happy when I speak that out. I specialize in composing illustrations with symbols or metaphors to express abstract concepts. And I’d like to create simple images with a light sense of humor and interesting ideas. I love to work on paper products such as postcards, greeting cards, posters, book covers, packaging, album covers, etc.. This year I was shortlisted for the first two illustration awards of my life, the CA 2024 Illustration and WIA 2024. It made me very excited to be recognized for all the hard work I’ve been putting in.
I may not know what can and how to differentiate myself from others. But when I keep creating my own style and making my own sound, I am naturally different from others.
How do you think about luck?
Luck is my guest of honor. It can be some sort of probability or aura that can affect every aspect of my life. It’s like the force that brings the results to me after I’ve made a choice. If good luck comes my way, of course, I will gladly accept it. Sometimes, bad luck can come along and wreak no small amount of havoc. But luck, after all, is beyond my control. I can only do what I can do to develop my ability to create and think, to solve unexpected problems, to resist risks, to have strong convictions, and so on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chen-yu-wang.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partikelw
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@partikelw
Image Credits
Illustrations by Chenyu Wang
