Meet Dongyan Xu | Illustrator & Designer

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

Hi Dongyan, what makes you happy? Why?
Drawing! Yes, I know it’s the obvious answer and very predictive and (likely) boring. But hear me out: There are many things that make people happy, but a lot of them involve consumption of things that already exist. However, when you make art, whether it’s a drawing or in other forms, you are adding things to the world. No matter how trivial those are, you are leaving your marks on the wall. Making art is telling stories and conveying emotions; artworks speak for themselves even when the artists are not around. Someday somewhere, some people might come across your art and feel moved or even inspired by the work you make. Some of the artworks that constantly inspired me were made by artists that passed away decades or centuries ago. Through creating art you share your life with the world and pass on a little piece of yourself to the future, making this tiny pale blue dot more diverse and interesting.
The less grand but possibly more important reason is drawing is just fun and rewarding. I would admit a big portion of my mind while drawing is lamenting “the anatomy is definitely wrong for unknown reasons” and “wait, what do ears actually look like” and “dogs are bony and weird and why do they have BREEDS.” With less luck the problem-solving process can involve quite some hitting into walls, stumbling backwards, and running in circles. However, when you solve all the issues, you get a neat little piece of art. And you look at it and for a brief moment you will think, “Wow, I made this, and it’s not bad and definitely better than the last one I drew. NO ACTUALLY IT’S VERY AWESOME AND I FEEL LIKE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD.” It is a strange, wonderful feeling; I have never experienced the same with anything else I did. It is addictive, and definitely better than cake.

Other things that make me happy, in random order:
Spending time with friends.
Cats; they are awesome and beautiful.
Japanese sweet potatoes; they taste like giant chestnuts.
Aimlessly wandering around in the city. I love exploring little shops, food places, and bookstores. I enjoy admiring the architecture along the way. Also all the gardens and potted flowers. A city is made of so many different elements, like a piece of creative tapestry weaved with threads in every color and material you can find and more. I find that complexity really appealing. (I still have the ambition of drawing a booklet of imaginary city scenes someday in the future.)
Museums and Libraries. Gallery shows. Concerts.
Autumn trees. You can adore the leaves in all these rich beautiful colors in cool refreshing air, without fearing little wiggling friends dropping onto your head. (I’ve definitely seen caterpillars hanging off leaves in summer! Learned to not wear glasses; cannot be hurt by things I do not see.)
Free! Public! Transportation!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I create illustrations in two slightly different artistic styles rich in lines and textures. One style has thin intricate lines and a lot of details, while the other has thicker lines and simpler color palette. I am interested in the topic of mental wellness, relationships, animals and food; I particularly enjoy depicting character interactions and subtle emotions. Recently, I have also been experimenting with surface design. I will not say my journey was smooth, but I also dare not to say it was tough. I received a lot of support from my family, friends, and teachers; I am aware of the privileges I have and I consider myself very lucky to always find help in trying situations.
There is one past challenging experience I want to share. In junior year of undergraduate school, I got a vague idea of what type of illustration I hope to create, and it happened to be “over-detailed intricate line drawings.” My workflow then was far from ideal; soon I began to run into all kinds of problems and struggled with finishing class assignments on time. When things did not seem to figure themselves out after several months, I panicked. I thought, “Oh, it’s just a stupid art block,” and decided to push myself harder to just get over the bad phase. I started to eat and sleep less, which (not) surprisingly only made the situation worse. Turns out vitamin deficiency and lack of sleep do make your mind tell you funny things at night that you should absolutely not trust.
Of course, eventually I managed to develop a much healthier workflow, and I was able to work faster with enough practice. When I considered the experience afterwards, I realized that it was just a normal part of the learning experience. (Aside from skipping meals, not sleeping, and the anxiety.) It just took time and patience to troubleshoot issues, figure things out, and learn new skills.
I share this experience because I find such issues not uncommon among art students. I never regret going to art school, always considering it as one of the best things that happened to my life. However, back then we did not talk enough about how to face difficulties as art students. We need to understand our own limits and abilities, and find the best methods for ourselves, instead of constantly hitting the wall with our heads hoping to smash the obstacle. Anyway, if there’s any art student reading this article facing similar issues right now, I am unsubtly yelling at you to be kind to yourself, eat well and get enough sleep, and things will get better even it may take some time and effort.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Actually, currently I am out of LA and one of my best friends is in LA, so it would be I visiting my best friend in the area instead of the opposite. I definitely fancy the idea of visiting LA again, or even relocating, and have been daydreaming about what I want to do in the city for quite a while.

A List:
Go for a hike; LA has such amazing hiking trails.
Explore the Downtown area on foot! And get into some museums.
Visit the local farmer’s market. If it’s spring I will have all the loquats I can get.
Try the light rail. I am pretty sure I will find enough opportunities.
Visit the beaches and see the sunset.
Aren’t there at least six aquariums in LA?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout to my parents, who always trust, respect, and support my decisions, even when it is hard to trust. (And never scolded me when I doodled with colorful thick markers on nice white walls.) To my mother, when I was little you read me all types of stories every night. I love “Macbeth” and now 20 years later I am finally starting to get “The Silmarillion”. You gifted me so many beautiful picture books and art magazines. To my father, you are always kind, positive, and encouraging. You don’t personally experience a lot of issues I struggle with, but you always listen. To my friends, you carry me through the cloudy, rainy, and stormy periods in my life, listen to my rantings, and help me to sort things out. To Ping, who gives the best advices when I (metaphorically) trip and have my head upside down deep into a hole. To Seth, who taught me how to cook and not starve and eat a lot of vegetable and beans.
To my professors in college and graduate school, you are always so patient and supportive. I learned so much from you. Even years after leaving your classes I still benefit from the things you taught.
To my colleague and friend Breeze Hu, you are the reason I have the privilege of participating in this interview! Your comic is amazing and I hope you get all the glory out there!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Website: https://www.dongyanxu.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dongyanxu_art/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dongyan-xu-84a172121/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dongyanxu_art

Other: Print Shop: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/dongyanxu_art/