Meet Jingyun Zhou | Illustrator/Storyteller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jingyun Zhou and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jingyun, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
As they said, the one who successes had failed more times than what others have tried. If that’s something that won’t leave your mind, there should always be one more try. Along the practice way, time will tell. It’s like how the Result drawing came out. I was initially planning to make a gif of myself wearing the seven days clothes as an image to communicate my idea, as said above. I was planning to visualize the concept of time passing. However, it didn’t turn out well. So I was stressed and struggled because I was hitting the deadline. I started to doodle on my sketchbook to express my stress mood. As time went by, I became calmer. And then, I began to work on the random lines drawn in a lousy mood by painting over with brushes and fingers. I usually don’t use high-saturated colors, which I used while I was stressed, as you can tell that I used a lot of greens after afterwhile. And I think the result of the drawing came out good. I didn’t give up and took action, then time tells.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As an illustrator/designer, I am passionate about drawing and storytelling. I love experimenting with new drawing tools in my spare time. As a quiet advocator for love and compassion, my goal to make the world a better place is expressed through my work. I am still on my way to finding my style. I practice yoga and doodle things when I feel lousy. I believe time will tell at the end.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I moved to LA in May 2020, so I haven’t been to many places because of the Pandemic. But I can suggest a few places I went to, and they are all worth going to. The trip to Malibu was mind-relaxing. The scenarios were appealing, which inspired me to do a lot of paintings. And the hot wine drink was delicious. I will also recommend LACMA. It took me 4 hours to browse through everything. I will give several visits so that I can slow down and do some sketches there. Little Tokyo is an excellent place to go. Numerous restaurants and stores.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have been working with a group of creative people from Narval Films on a series of animations called EmoAtom. It’s an amazing experience to work with these people, from brainstorming ideas to trying different ways to create music and sounds. This series of cooperative animations aim to tell a story about the existence of EmoAtom to tell people about the rationality of various emotions. It seeks to companion and comfort people in this global hard time and, in the end, decrease disputes and anger. (https://jingyunzhooou.myportfolio.com/uhoh-a-series-of-animated-shorts)

I received a lot of encouragement and suggestions, which helped me grow in story-telling and animating. I have been lucky to meet these people and work on works that express my thoughts.

Website: https://jingyunzhooou.myportfolio.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jingyunzhooou/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingyunzhou/