Meet Xinyue Chen | Illustrator & Book Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Xinyue Chen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Xinyue, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
Most of my books are inspired by things happened in my life. By turning them into metaphoric stories, I find it easier to face and understand them. I often get inspirations from my memories, and from environments I see in daily life. I am also inspired by movies, I picked up the love for them from my parents. Film montage deeply influenced my way of storytelling. Making books is my way to make films on my own.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I create books (art & writing) as well as illustrations. My stories are often magical realism or poetic, and based on my experience in life. I create these images and stories to share my memories and communicate my emotions with others, I believe that people with similar experience would resonate with them. I make most of my works traditionally, with water-based media on paper. It is less common today as it’s more time-consuming and harder to fix than working digitally. But I believe in the traditional process, as I always appreciate seeing the original of an artwork. The paper and paint have more layers of emotions to me.
I have had classical art training for many years, which I have a mixed feeling for. It has given me good skills and the love for traditional materials, but also held me back with its rules in the past. I am still learning about how to balance realism and expressionism in my art, but I certainly draw more freely now than in the past.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It would be a great little trip to go to the Bronx Zoo and NYBG in the spring. I would also bring them to the MET, then IFC Centre for independent films, or find concerts in MSG, King’s Theatre, Brooklyn Steel or smaller venues in the east village. For unique stores and restaurants, I’d go to Greenpoint and Bushwick, where you can also find tons of tattoo shops and tattooed people, it’s very fun to watch them.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My relationship with art has been complicated over the years, sometimes full of struggles. But I’m glad that I’ve finally found what I want to make. It had been frustrating, but now I have self-published several books, create many illustrations and designs, and I’m dedicated to making more of them. I have many people to thank for helping me get to this place. First of all, I am grateful for my family as they have been very supportive about my art career, it wouldn’t happen without them.
I’ve also been lucky to have met some excellent teachers in my school years. Xiaoyao for recognizing my art and helping me build my traditional drawing skills, as well as helping me find my favorite media; Anna and Mishele for understanding me and helping me find my voice as an artist & a writer in my first couple picture books; last but not least, my thesis advisor Doug Salati for being generous and sharing everything he knows about making books with me. They made me feel that I would be able to do this.

Website: https://www.maiyashu.art/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maiyashu/