Meet Xulin

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

Hi Xulin, how do you think about risk?
Taking risks is everything in illustration – to even start out in this career, you have to be willing to accept a higher level of instability and uncertainty. I’ve made tons of mistakes in order to learn some hard lessons, and I’m grateful that I did so early in my career. It’s impossible to account for every kind of pitfall you could make at the start of your career because it’s impossible to imagine everything that could happen to you. So when I started, I kept an open mind to all sorts of projects, took things that didn’t pay much, and signed contracts not in my favour, all in the spirit of learning as much as I could. All of it built my portfolio full of client work (replacing all the mock projects I did in school) that led to more promising projects down the road. I found my niche in illustrations and comics for illustration through that experience, after graduating and fully intending to do editorial illustration full time.
Making a mistake and taking the fall for it made me realize that unlike in school, there are consequences for your actions. I’ve been dead wrong, humiliated, signed bad contracts, and I continue to need to dig in and chase people down for opportunities and money. These experiences are stressful, but also valuable and humbling, which I think makes me better able to navigate future challenges.
I’m currently taking a risk right now – after being laid off from a stable day job, I’ve postponed the job hunt to work on my pitch for a graphic memoir about reconnecting to my family in China and my disillusionment from the immigrant dream.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What sets me apart from others is my intense dedication to research as a basis for creating art. I like projects that challenge me to learn as much as I can about a given subject to illustrate it in ways both educational and emotionally evocative. I find the most impactful imagery grounded in reality, and I’m a real stickler for accuracy when depicting historical, cultural, or scientific subjects. A lot of my illustrations are educational (for books to be used in schools or published online as comics journalism) and depict the experiences of people from many marginalized backgrounds – when I’m given such a project, it always feels like a great privilege but also a responsibility to understand the topic as much as I can as an outsider.
The reason for this is that I believe true and respectful representation is important. Growing up Chinese-Canadian, I’ve seen my own culture and experience simplified and distorted in all sorts of different ways by the Western cultural mainstream. We in the diaspora often participate in that distortion as well – to assimilate and survive amongst the majority, which creates an internal tension that never sat right with me. Conversely, when I encounter a depiction of my experience and culture in a way that feels truly authentic and respectful, I feel profoundly seen. I’d like to extend that respect and that feeling to as many people from different walks of life as possible.
Sometimes it means spending a lot more time than it otherwise would, to understand a time, place, or individual as fully as I can. But because this is a cause so important to me, I don’t take shortcuts. I don’t want to contribute to spreading misinformation, and I hope that I can make someone’s day just a bit happier by seeing themselves in an illustration.

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?
I’m based in Toronto, and one of the most fun things to do here is to eat. I live near downtown Chinatown, so I’d take them to Rol San for a dim sum brunch, Icha Tea for their strawberry matcha latte, and Chat Bar for lamb skewers for dinner. Other nice spots that come to mind are HotBlack Coffee for their egg toast, or What a Bagel for their bagels – obviously. I’d take them biking through Tommy Thompson Park (AKA Leslie Spit), a unique provincial park/nature reserve in East Toronto that juts into Lake Ontario. The park used to be a dumping ground for construction materials, so its rocky beaches are composed of smoothed bathroom tiles, beach glass, and rounded bricks threaded through cords of rebar. It also has a cormorant nesting area and an excellent Toronto skyline view. Going to the Island is a nice getaway from the city too, and I’d highly recommend taking a Water Taxi for a private and affordable ride across the lake with a view as well.

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?
I want to shout out The Nib, an indie comic journalism outlet/magazine where I got my first big break into the unique kind of comics I make today. Approaching them straight out of university, they allowed me to pitch, write, and illustrate comics about climate science topics such as wildfires and permafrost, which directly led to later opportunities from larger media outlets to do the same – from Vox, to the Guardian, then NGOs and government organizations affiliated with the United Nations. I even got to do a solo show at the Palais Des Nations and shake hands with the director of the WHO – a trajectory beyond my wildest imagination. (Everyone whom I’ve worked with along this path – Karen, Alastair, Frida, Arabella, Josh, Shalini – thank you for all your trust as well.)

The degree of artistic and narrative freedom the Nib gave me to pursue my curiosity and desire to do rigorous research made me realize that comics journalism, and graphic art in general, was a calling for me. They are no longer publishing new material, but their website is still a repository for the best in comics journalism and editorial comics. Specifically, I’d like to shout out members of their former editorial team, from whom I’ve learned so much – Eleri Harris, Andy Warner, and Matt Bors, for all the opportunities to contribute to the Nib Magazine and for keeping the publication running for ten glorious years.

Website: https://xulinillu.com/

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

Twitter: https://x.com/xulinillu?lang=en