My name is Yahan Wang, from China. I am a former social science/sociology student who finally decided to embark on their art journey after completing their bachelor’s degree. My interest in the illustration field ranges from concept to visual development art, comics/manga, editorial and storytelling illustration– basically any illustration strands that allow me to tell a story through a series of images. I am also heavily invested in creating original characters and stories, thus most of my personal works are related to these characters and some of the particular plots in the main storyline.
I am more inclined to work with digital mediums and tools such as a tablet, but in my own time I practice life sketches on sketchbooks, and some of the quick drawings are transferred to the laptop that allows me to trace them and use those lines arts as part of my personal works. I wouldn’t say that I have a good sense of colour, but I keep on trying different colour palettes to consolidate these ‘colour memories’.
My inspiration and composition ideas for illustration are largely extracted from everyday life, photography and film shot, people’s interaction and their emotional state. Real-life events and stories tend to attract me more because I find the inevitability in real life, alongside all the other constraint human put on themselves such as laws, morals and religions, limits our physical ability while enhancing how far our minds can be stretched. The conflicting nature between ‘self-expression’ and ‘self-modification’ is always one of my interests, and the fact that we are constantly reconciling with everything we encounter deceive ourselves. These patterns of concession persuade us into thinking that we are becoming more shrewd with unexpected circumstances – but we aren’t necessarily are – as constant suppression on someone’s ego doesn’t seem to be so ideal in constructing your identity, and more importantly, you are becoming less of your very own ‘human being’.