Meet Haoyue Xu | Digital Sculptor & Filmmaker & Visual Designer

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

Hi Haoyue, why did you pursue a creative career?
My pursuit of art and creativity originally stemmed from a deep passion for biology and sculptural art. At 16, I became fascinated with creating clay figurines, which gradually led me to step away from the path my family had planned for me and dedicating myself fully to the pure pursuit of art. During my undergraduate years, I was drawn to the limitless possibilities offered by emerging technologies and realized that traditional sculpture could be integrated with digital art. This fusion provided a novel perspective for redefining my position in contemporary society while seeking a delicate balance between commercial value and artistic aesthetics.

As a result, I chose to begin my journey as a digital sculptor, continually advancing my understanding of animation workflows as I transitioned toward filmmaking. On a deeper, intrinsic level, I aspire to materialize my thoughts and emotions through animation or other artistic mediums. My aim is to help others feel less isolated and helpless, to genuinely embrace their existence with a sense of fulfillment, or, in times of adversity, to find enduring vitality and meaning in my work—just as I have found in many of the artistic and creative works that inspire me.

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 enjoy creating animations that explore human nature and the collective unconscious, using surrealism and an illustrative aesthetic to express my thoughts and reflections.

My film, The Observer, is a surrealist piece that delves into the phenomenon of individuals being objectified under the gaze of societal scrutiny. The story follows a girl who, one autumn evening, rides her bike through a city street and encounters a towering utility pole covered in giant surveillance cameras. She attempts to resist and retaliate against the invasive gaze that captures her. In the film, this gaze is visualized as forests of camera-covered poles and omnipresent “camera birds.” This concept was inspired by the discomfort and unease I felt toward the pervasive surveillance networks and strict censorship systems in my previous country, as well as the fear of excessive intrusion into personal space. These experiences prompted me to seek an escape from my former environment and to construct new modes of living and interacting with society. Through animation, I aimed to strike back at this oppressive gaze with my own perspective. From an aesthetic and technical standpoint, I deliberately abandoned the hyper-realistic textures of CG models in favor of oil-paint-like textures and flat comic-style materials generated through procedural nodes. By uniquely combining model forms and their appearance, I created peculiar motion trajectories. For example, cameras could transform into white leaves on trees or black flocks of crows soaring above the sea, seamlessly shifting between forms.

My 3D concept design and dynamic storyboard work, Elevator Reverie, takes place in a high-rise elevator, portraying a group of individuals from different backgrounds trapped in a confined space. Despite speaking the same language, they are completely unable to understand one another. Under the pressure of their environment, they gradually become dehumanized, turning into animals confined in what the elevator symbolizes as a cage. This piece explores the alienation caused by environmental stress and limited living spaces between different social classes, races, and genders. On a technical level, I utilized blendshape techniques, allowing seamless transformation between human and animal models within a single mesh.

Inspired by Italo Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees, my 3D animation Treehouse is a 5-minute-35-second nature-themed short film. It examines the essence of freedom and the meaning of connection with others when one voluntarily detaches from societal norms. The story features a boy living in a treehouse and a girl soaring through the sky. Although they appear to be pursuing their ideal ways of life, both are ultimately not free, as their freedoms are fundamentally incompatible. This short film was my undergraduate thesis project, into which I poured all my passion and effort. As I handled all aspects of the animation production—from scriptwriting and storyboarding to concept design, modeling, texturing, animation, rendering, and compositing—within just four months, time management became my greatest challenge. To overcome this, I established an efficient and reliable workflow, assessed the time and difficulty of each task, and created a detailed daily schedule, adhering to it rigorously. By the end of my studies, this film was unanimously selected by the review panel as an Outstanding Thesis Project.

In 2024, I arrived at CalArts to begin work on the first episode of an original animated series, Blue Circus. This episode tells the story of a puppet brought to life, only to discover that its body parts do not belong to it. To regain its complete self, it must destroy the bodies of other puppets. The film explores the concept of “wholeness of self.” I aim to continue experimenting with the aesthetics of geometric shapes, optical illusions, and world-building, as well as further extending technical approaches to complex joint rigging in character animation.

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.
I will take my friend to CalArts for Animation Night, the most crazy art event of the year. That night, artists from all animation programs will showcase their best works from the past year in the Main Gallery. These include paintings, concept designs, storyboards, and stop-motion models, all covering the entire gallery walls. Then, I’ll wake my friend up to join me at the school’s basement garage sale. There, we’ll snag top-tier creative tools, like high-quality computer monitors and other equipment that the school is retiring, at a fraction of the original price while they still remain in excellent condition. Finally, we’ll head to a brewery in the Downtown Art District for a drink and some conversation, before making our way to Santa Monica Beach to admire the sea under the sunset.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my first employer, Chong Lu, who offered me my first job while I was still in collage. He recognized the potential in my immature artworks and welcomed me into the DODOWO team, guiding me onto the path of becoming a digital sculptor. Furthermore, he wrote a recommendation letter for my graduate school application, affirming the contributions of my work to both aesthetics and commerce.

I would also like to thank my mentor from LA, John Mahoney, for his invaluable guidance in design, and my collaborator, Zeming Sun, for their constant companionship and unwavering creative support, which have allowed me to take step after step to reach this beautiful city. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my mother for her boundless encouragement and love.

Recently, I’ve got much inspiration for life and animation scriptwriting from the works of Italo Calvino, and I highly recommend his books to everyone.

Website: https://shirotsuki0831.wixsite.com/haoyue-xu

Instagram: una_sculptill3nd

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haoyue-xu-10abb0337/

Image Credits
1-8 Haoyue Xu