Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My Art: Character Art








Character based on the real person ( including me) :P

Artist Highlight: Xiao Bai Master Illustrator of Oriental Beauty




Beauty as her art. Introducing Xiao Bai, the master illustrator of Oriental beauty and body art from China. She has an uncanny ability for fusing body art (tattoo) and feminime beauty into her most of illustration art. This is some part of the interview with POPCORN magazine, which she shared some of her side view on how to be a good artist, hopefully it is inspiring as it was inspiring me.


How would you describe your artistic style? Chinese feminime beauty. Hee!

Beautiful maidens, tatoo and all things Orient seems to be reoccuring in your work, Why is that?
I just prefer to combine elements that I like and interest me into my works. My father is a calligrapher and it is because of his influence that I've nurtured an appreciation for Chinese culture. I've studied fine brush painting for a couple of years and it so happens that there aren't many Illustrator within China that use this particular style.




What do you enjoy drawing?And on that note, what do you dislike drawing? And why?
I love drawing beautiful girls, flowers and plants. I consider them a feast for the eyes! On the other hand, I'm not too keen on drawing for commercial purposes in order to suit the masses. I find that doing that puts a constraint on my ideas and the illustrations go through too many changes that it becomes unrecognisable.



Can you tell us a little about your collaboration on the online game JX3?
The collaboration was pretty straightforward. It just happened that the Art director of JX3 was a senior whom I respected very much in school.

You mentioned that you don't enjoy producing Illustrations for commercial purposes. How did you manage to reach an agreement with the company for this project?
When the JX3 Art Director tasked me with the duty of character designing, his only request is that the characters factions should be easily distinguishable. But, other than that, he didn't limit my ideas and allowed me free rein in the creation of the character based on my own interpretations. With so much creative freedom, it was very easy for me to accept this job.



Will you draw muscular men with tattoos?
Yes, but only rarely. Muscular men are beyond my realm of expertise.


Which part of the drawing process do you found most challenging?

To find that breakthrough for inspiration. While I hope to retain my artistic style in my work, I would also like to introduce and try out new elements in every piece. Whether they are sough sketches, coloring or even new artistic interpretations, as long as it is something that can make me feel that I've made a satisfactory improvement.



In this highly competitive market, what does one need to do to ensure their work stands out?
I supposed it is important for an artist to posses an individual artistic style. For me, I did not put myself in the competitive market and just stuck to drawing the things that I'm interested in to satisfy myself. When I first started, I never treated my illustrations as commodities and was honored that my work was being appreciated by others... which is something beyond my expectations.

In your opinion, what do illustrators have to do to build up their artistic style?
I believe that locking yourself up is the biggest inspiration killer. Pay more attention to the things and culture that you enjoy as it will assist you in forming your own appreciation of beauty and help the development of your own artistic style.


More on her blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/wanmeishala1219