Today we’d like to introduce you to Yining Li.
Hi Yining, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Yi Ning. I come from China, and I am currently studying Illustration and Motion Media Design at Savannah College of Art and Design. I like to make friends with drawing since childhood. I will doodle and give them to my friends as gifts. It was also the first step for me to build a bridge with the outside world. Drawing helped me overcome many difficulties because I was introverted and shy when I was young, but I could express myself bravely because of drawing. I have not been very professionally trained in painting till I applied to College so I keep my original interest and passion in drawing. Then I pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation at Beijing Film Academy.
During this period, I found that my interest was the expression, and I was obsessed with telling stories and exploiting the power of visuals, especially the power to inspire the viewer and their imagination. I got to know the illustration by chance in a public presentation. At that time, I appreciated many excellent illustrators’ sharing, such as Cen Jun, Lisk Feng, and Jasu Hu. At that time, illustration was not very popular in China, but I was deeply moved by these profound and powerful works, and those excellent works inspired my desire to create. I started to understand what illustration was, so then I came to Savannah to study. In the process of learning, I took some elective courses in motion media design and found that I was also very interested in dynamic visual expression. I wanted to expand the limitation of static illustration and give pictures more expression space, so I applied for motion media design major as well. At present, I study illustration and Motion Media Design at the same time, hoping to be more powerful and creative in my expression.
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?
Before I knew what illustration was, I never imagined that I would come to the United States and study such a niche major in my parent’s mind. Fortunately, I did not encounter any setbacks in my choice. Even though my family did not know what illustration was, they still supported me and gave me the most space to grow up. However, the road of creation was not smooth. When I first came to the United States, my life was changing a lot, which also affected my way of thinking and creative expression. I found that my previous creation concept and aesthetic appreciation were relatively fixed. I did not think about what I liked or appreciated. I was just attracted by temporary beautiful images and did not pay attention to content and concept. My creative methods and ideas are constantly updated in the process of learning at SCAD. Such renewal is both painful and joyful. Fortunately, when I look back, I find that my aesthetic appreciation has been improved and my understanding and acceptance of artistic expression have been broadened. I think this is a good direction, creation should not be limited by any things, creativity is priceless.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For illustration, I love editorial illustration. I enjoy capturing the article’s key points, refining the story, expressing it with visual language, and inspiring the audience’s thinking. When I applied for college to prepare my portfolio, my first work was one editorial illustration, called “Thank you for coming to My World”. This work has brought me a lot. This work got the World Illustration Award (WIA) the shortlist, also my first award, which gave me great encouragement and made me full of confidence to try to create in the future. Recently, I was lucky to get merit in the 3X3 competition for one of my editorial illustrations” Mental Health Crisis Is Getting Younger”, which gave me great support in the direction of editorial illustration. I like to grasp delicate emotions, express more spiritual connotations in a conceptual way, and give the audience more space to have their own understanding.
What does success mean to you?
To me, success is a process not a result. It is important that you work hard for achieving your goal. If I have prepared for my goal and acted hard, any result is a kind of success for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://yiningli.com/
- Instagram: yining_li20
