Q & A with artist Guoldu

I’m not from a town nor a family with a fund or interest in the arts, but I’ve just always been drawing on journals and textbook pages (oops) and on my hands and on extra receipt paper during my shifts in food service.

Great question. Still working on that!

I started first actually listening to Chinese radio shows and movies from the 90’s-2000’s when I was first learning the language. It was just kind of a natural progression to dramas, as Chinese film and entertainment industry is massive and readily accessible to those who seek it out. My art has certainly been influenced by Chinese contemporary artists and cinematographers. But beyond that I think my work is always influenced by all cultures, my own included, with rich textile history and cultural bearing in the clothing.

Can you tell us about your creative process? How do you move a project from an idea to a finished illustration? Is it a bigger challenge to get started on a new project or to decide when it is finally done?

I really value a lot of inaction in my process, which sounds contradictory to completing work, but allowing ample time between steps brings clarity and options that I wouldn’t have had a chance to form if I’d pressed on earlier. I actually have little issue with either starting or completing a piece, the biggest challenge is always in the middle — trying to stay aware of the larger picture and not getting too lost in details.

I loved the examples and options you shared with me as we worked on this project, it really evolved collaboratively. Though it made me wonder: when you send a client thumbnail sketches to choose from, do you have favorites you are secretly rooting for?

Oh I always have favorites! Luckily still, all of them I send are ideas I feel good about. That said I do save ones that don’t get chosen to repurpose for personal work so there’s no loss either.

Are there small details you hope people notice in this book cover?

Whatever their eye is naturally drawn to. I hope that people will revisit the illustration as they read through the story and see how their perception of the scene changes, if at all.

How do you challenge yourself to continue growing as an artist?

With how much information is available to artists and often free in this age I’m constantly finding new angles to consider my work against. If it’s not a structured course, it’s a life drawing study or a classical works study, and if it’s not those it’s in finding some new element to observe in my every day world that will then translate back to drawing. There’s endless learning!

A silly question to finish up: You go to the store and come home with three things that weren’t on your list. What did you buy?