About me
Hi! I am YOYI (Yantong Wen/文艳彤）I am an illustrator from China.
I was born in Shenzhen, a coastal city in southern China.
I love sketching, and I enjoy picking up a paintbrush to record the world during my travels. Now I am a student in the Cambridge School of Art, majoring in MA children's book illustration.
During my undergraduate years, I majored in animation and worked as an animation storyboard designer in an Internet company for four years. I believe that both picture books and animations are forms of storytelling art. I hope to constantly broaden my horizons and enhance my understanding of art.
I enjoy drawing like a child, thinking like a child, which inspired me to start creating picture books for children.
I love to work in traditional media, and I'm drawn to the happy accidents and rich textures that are made when creating work on paper. I make new discoveries too. My work is rooted in observational drawing - finding the beauty in the everyday, through experiments in colour, texture, light, and composition.
From childhood, I've been prone to daydreaming, immersing myself in worlds brimming with imagination. The imaginative gifts bestowed upon me by television animation continue to enrich me to this day.
I adore the magic woven by stories and animation, which is why I devoted myself to creating animations for so long.
After studying children's books illustration at Cambridge School of Art, I developed a fondness for letting stories wander the boundary between reality and imagination. This revealed a different kind of charm, distinct from animation.
I also have a fondness for slightly absurd French humour.
I enjoy incorporating my sketches into my work, paying particular attention to the use of colour. I also hope to draw upon my animation background to infuse a distinct vitality into my children's picture book creations.
When not engaged in artistic pursuits, I enjoy basketball, sports, gaming, watching films, and browsing markets – all of which spark inspiration for my storytelling!