Meet Di Liang | Illustrator

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

Hi Di, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was very young, my dad drew a lot of characters in picture books as he read the story to me. My parents did not work in the art industry, but drawing on paper seemed normal in my home, just as a daily routine. At the age of six, I was scolded by my mom because I used a pencil to draw on the clean, new white wall when the first day we moved into our new apartment. Instead of getting mad and forbidding me from drawing, she found an art teacher for me, one of the most important people who influenced my career life. The art teacher never said “no” to me and my drawing, even if they looked terrible in retrospect, he could always find out the spark light in my work, and make suggestions on how to make them better. He gave me the never-ended confidence to courage me to walk into the art world.

So gradually, I kept drawing and applied to an art school in London for my undergraduate degree. It was an eye-opening experience. All those art museums and exhibitions were like a bomb to breaking my edge of imagination, and let me consider a lot about what is illustration. Since my passion for drawing is still here, I am now a full-time student in MFA illustration practice at MICA, continuing to question and challenge myself in this creative industry.

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.
Drawing is always fun but creating illustrations (especially for a specific purpose) is not always exciting. Keep outputting ideas may cause you to be exhausted. I used to think that inspiration needed to wait, and I did not know how to keep generating new ideas. However, in the progress of consistently practicing and maintaining my output, I understood that inspiration is actually an accumulative process. By doing a lot of research and looking at a lot of artists’ work (not necessarily just illustrators, I like to look at different types of work in various fields). Analyze and learn, finding the parts that I can use for myself. Or take a shower. I don’t know why but the bathroom seems to be a place blessed by the god of inspiration. I think the process of clearing out your mind during showering is crucial for making new ideas.

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?
Baltimore is a weird and chaotic city in a good way. Although I only lived in Baltimore for two years, I like it a lot. It takes about 15 minutes bus ride to the inner harbor, which is similar to my hometown. I lived in a harbor city for over twenty years, so I love walking in the inner harbor from summer to winter. The smell of the sea and the calls of seabirds can always calm me down, and the inner harbor has the most beautiful sunset and most delicious oysters. Near the inner harbor is Patterson Park, or what I often call dogs heaven. I invite all my friends to visit the park when they visit my place. It is a park with wonderful city views and lots of cute DOGS. All the worries of life go out when you walk in the park and say hi to every dog.

I love Mexican foods but had few chances to eat before I moved to the US. Baltimore has several places that sell impressively taste-opening delicious Mexican food and drinks. I always hang out with my friends in those cafes, giving our tastes a new experience.

When I am not drawing, I make coffee. After going to a lot of coffee shops in the city, I would say my home is where you can taste the best hand-drip coffee in the city. I actually wish I could be a coffee maker one day.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would say first of all my parents. None of my family worked in the art industry, and my parents knew nothing about illustration before I went to college, but they trusted me and let me pursue my dream. I could not go this far without their support. Years ago, I went to a light art exhibition with my mom. There was an interactive corner that could let visitors draw sea animals (part of the exhibition was using light to create a sea world). We sat down and drew, mom drew a fish, but she was too shy to show me as she thought it looked bad. It was a good drawing, and it was the time I realized how creative each person could be, whether or not they are a so-called artist. I always consider my illustration as a tool to communicate, evoke emotion, and help myself or others in some ways. The thought would never change no matter what work I will do in the future.

Five years ago, I found my favorite illustrator on Instagram. I was so touched by her work that I could not imagine how these gorgeous pieces were created. Her name is Tianxing Wan, MICA alumni. That was the first time I knew the institution and felt a strong urge to come here to study. I wanted to know what kind of environment could foster such an artist like her. After entering the program, I was fortunate enough and was blessed to meet two great art educators, George Wylesol and Mai Ly Degnan. George is an artist I have known for years, and I could never imagine there was a chance to take his class. He is so inspiring and talented in training students’ creative skills. Mai Ly is my first-year instructor, always supporting me and giving me endless help in many ways. I feel there is a kind of person born to be an educator. Mai Ly belongs to them.

Last but not least, a lady who once told me a story. She sent her daughter to study abroad at a very young age. One day when my family invited her to have dinner together, she told me she gave her daughter a pair of scissors as a birthday present. It sounded weird to use scissors as a present so I asked why. She said that her daughter is about to live alone and meet new people, and there would be new connections built through life. No matter what kind of connections her daughter would encounter, if there were any connections her daughter felt wrong about, the lady hoped her daughter could use the scissor to cut them off without hesitation. The story felt so impressive and poetic to me that I remember it for years, while being obsessed with the imagery of scissors. It also gave me the courage to make decisions. And the idea of the scissor and their metaphor now becomes my thesis topic. I cannot tell you how thankful to my aunt and friend, lady Li Li.

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