I am an illustrator from China. I focus on the relationship between people and their environment, as well as the psychological state of people in a particular environment. I often use a combination of hand drawing and digital painting to explore new ways of visual expression.
Through my observations of everyday life, I have noticed that people often use masks (visible or invisible) to hide who they really are. These behaviours have different motivations and implications which interest me a lot. So I decided to create a story about finding a mask and exploring the world and ourselves.
Picturebook is a form that can create a relaxing atmosphere with vibrant colours and interesting images. What’s more, it can somewhat dissolve the heaviness of discussing social issues. So I combined printmaking, digital painting, hand-drawing and text to create this interesting picturebook.
This series consist of 4 books. This is the first one, which focuses on why the protagonist is looking for the mask, how he gets it and what happen he arrive the city. I am looking forward to the resonance and feedback between it and audience.
MA Illustration
Qilu Yao
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A spread of the protagonist's journey in search of the magic mask in the forest from the book 'Mask'.
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This is the front and back cover of the Masks book. It suggests that the protagonist is searching for and obtaining the magical mask, which is said to be able to change in a thousand ways. This is a spread of the protagonist obtaining a magic mask in the book 'Mask'. In The Book of Masks, the protagonist comes across a clip of a man in the city who has been tricked by a person (someone with countless masks) and is crying bitterly. This is a spread of a monster that wants to hurt the protagonist in the book 'Mask'. This is a spread from the book ‘Mask’ that shows there are so many masks used in our society. This work is in the list of 2024 Hi illustration.This artwork ‘People in rain’ shows people’s behaviour in strong wind and heavy rain. This work is in the list of 2024 Hi illustration. This artwork ‘People in rain’ shows what happens on the ground in strong wind and heavy rain.