Alice X. Zhang is a full-time freelance designer, illustrator, & portrait artist with an enduring interest in cinema, comics, & pop culture.
Alice's solo show "Moments II" is running until July 10, 2015 @ The Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. You can purchase prints online (the links below go directly to the store page, if the print isn't sold out already)
HAIKU Art Review: Alice X. Zhang
Perfect frames captured
A movie fan's perspective
Painted celluloid
A Very Strange Time
"I think my interest in painting famous characters really just evolved out of just pure, simple fangirlishness. I am very easily excited & obsessive (haha) & it's just great to express that excitement through art & inspire other fans at the same time. I draw what I love, I draw what is visually & emotionally inspiring to me - everyone should draw what they love as often as possible!"
Source (all quotes): Techgnotic @ DA
"I'm continuously grateful for & humbled by the support I get for my artwork, I don't think I would've had the guts to leave my job otherwise! I was happy to be hired after college in an art field (as a designer at an apparel graphics company) & full-time work was a very educational experience. In the end, though, I felt a freelance career as a illustrator/painter would be more personally rewarding. I was spending nearly every free moment painting anyway & I was losing sleep trying to balance the job & the side projects I always had going on."
"Portraits are probably my favorite type of art to create, for many reasons. I think there's really a measure of romanticism, prestige, & timelessness associated with having one's portrait painted - I mean, as I'm sure every aspiring artist knows - whenever you mention to random people that you like to draw, usually the first words out of their mouth are "You're an artist? WILL YOU DRAW ME?!" It's a universally appreciated type of art."
"A compelling portrait captures the 'essence' of the person; that expressiveness & vibrancy, there are many things to consider, getting the subject's correct features down is just a baseline requirement."
It's Just Pretend
"Apparel graphics in general have always been almost an entirely separate artistic category in my mind - it's always been more commercial & less personal for me. It was, after all, my full-time job for quite some time - there's just a variety of other outside factors you have to consider & that's why those designs seem to vary stylistically from my other work. What people want to wear can be very different than what they're willing to hang on their walls."
Golden Dragon
"The best advice I can give any aspiring artist in this day & age is to remember what an incomparably powerful tool the internet is. I've taught myself nearly all my digital painting skills through tutorials & other information available online - but that's an obvious use of online resources. After you create a body of work that you're proud of - often the question is, "what now?" Then comes the struggle to get noticed, right? What really matters - & this is something I feel many artists forget - is the raw power of a web presence."
"The best thing about the internet is that you essentially have your very own endless gallery show… & you are your own agent! & it's completely free!"
"As for spiritual advice… please, please draw what you love, as often as possible. My favorite type of comment to get on my work is when someone tells me they now love so-&-so show because my art alone intrigued them enough to go out & watch it. That's kinda the best feeling ever. So keep calm and carry on, don't be afraid to get silly, & don't forget why you love to make art in the first place."
Source (all quotes): Techgnotic @ DA
