Today we’d like to introduce you to Dannie Niu.
Hi Dannie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am an illustration graduate student currently attending Savannah College of Art and Design Atlanta campus. I came from Guangdong Province, the most developed southern province in China. I grew up in a little old city where many of the original towns and buildings from ancient times remain. Maybe because of their existence, I became fascinated by ancient things. My father, an oil painter and a professor at the local university was my aesthetic initiation teacher. His style was traditional landscape oil painting, which led me to be fascinated by the Renaissance and Romantic works and later to the Art Nouveau artworks. As I slowly grew up, I began to be unable to stand my curiosity about the world, and I chose to see other places. As soon as I could, I would take a slow trip to Hong Kong for two days on a small train. I would travel through the concrete jungle and enjoy spending quality time with the old house. I would go to Singapore and stroll through the city gardens to taste the beauty of the collision of many languages. I would go to the streets of Malaysia, order a meat bone tea, listen to the sound of street hawkers, and sit on the roadside for a whole afternoon. I’m not the kind of person who just wants to stay in the same place for the whole life.
As long as I can find a few places in the city or country that I love, I feel like I can make this place another home. During my four years of undergraduate studies, I stayed in Guangzhou, a city that is also very cosmopolitan and comfortable. If I had graduated and worked normally, I think I could have had a piece of the city to myself. But that would probably be too boring. After I decided to go to the U.S. for graduate school and then successfully got several offers from U.S. colleges and universities, I was struggling with where to go. Then I recalled my favorite hip-hop music. “Of course it’s Atlanta!” And so it was that I arrived in a city that I knew nothing about, yet seemed to have known for a long time. Atlanta gave me an amazing feeling, and at first, I would always worry about not fitting in well with the locals. But once I got here, I realized that Atlanta is a multi-ethnic city with very friendly people. I enjoy the food, the music, I like to hear people playing their favorite music when I walk down the street, and I like that passersby will praise your clothes and shoes without mincing words. I love the graffiti under the bridge piers and the amazing little vinyl store in Little Five Points. I really like this interesting city.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Of course not, no one’s life is very smooth or smooth sailing. My parents were very traditional and old-fashioned, especially my father, who could not accept ideas and practices that were too new. He did not like taking risks. “There must be no mistakes.” was his mantra. But because of this, I missed out on a lot. I’ve been a very introverted person since I was a kid, and I was timid to talk to people. My social circle was small, and I usually waited for people to come to me first to say hello. I was always concerned about what others thought, and I was always afraid of making any mistakes in front of my father. But fortunately, I slowly transformed in high school. I want to thank my good friends and classmates for making me think about what I really want. Although I had always drawn since I was a kid, I never had a formal art education. By the second year of high school, I was planning to become a financier or accountant. Then suddenly one day, I thought that might not be what I wanted, so I picked up the pencil again and was motivated to get into the best art school in China.
After a year and a half of hard work, I eventually did get an offer from the university I wanted to go to, but because of my test ranking, my father didn’t think my ranking was safe and told me to choose a more secure school. However, it later turned out that my ranking was perfectly fine to go to the university I wanted to go to. I went to a college that was not my ideal college and this has become a regret for me after that, then I worked even harder during my four years in university. I was frantically pulling my GPA up and excitedly trying to improve myself at the same time. While others were just completing the professor’s assignments alone, I started working with professors in Singapore to illustrate textbooks for Chinese language education. Later I started to contribute to some websites and newspapers, and because my undergraduate major was animation, I also drew video storyboards for the big advertising agencies. When I was about to graduate, I was involved in the design of a famous cosmetic packaging & published two children’s picture books. But I was so busy at that time. I was preparing for my application to American schools, preparing for graduation, and working at the same time, but at that time I was very content, and I think I was truly alive at that moment.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently working as a freelance illustrator, the lifetime career will be as a student & dreamer. Yes, I think there are still countless things in this world that I need to explore and learn, so I need my whole life to keep learning and fantasizing. But there may be regrets because this life is too short and not enough. Right now, I’m working on my studies, and of course I’m still exploring my style. I like fantasy, romantic things. I think my work has a strong sense of impact. I like to draw gorgeous, extravagant, and imaginative works. Of course, I also love to create children’s illustrations. I like to draw something sweet and beautiful, not only for children but also for adults. I can’t draw something very dark and cruel, I think the world is already too grim, I just want to draw something that can make people feel pleasant and beautiful. I hope that through my illustrations, I can bring more reverie to the viewers and that they will not feel heavy but linger after enjoying my works.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t impose your views on others. I hate extremist people or things. I think the world is wonderful because of the multifaceted nature of things and people. There is no absolute right and wrong in this world, only different thoughts and experiences. The other thing is to take each day seriously, catch the moment, and don’t waste it. I once went to the hospital in high school and then suddenly fainted because I’ve always been in good health, so I’ve never fainted. When I woke up, I thought a long, long time had passed, but it was really only about 1 minute. My mother was so shocked that she cried in front of me. I always get scared when I think back to that fainting experience. It was like I was dead, I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t feel anything, it was as if my mind had stopped spinning. Yes, I was really afraid of death, I was afraid of that feeling of being alone. So in order not to leave regrets, from then on, I began to try to catch every day.
Contact Info:
- Email: dannieniu@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.dannieniu.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dannie.niu/
