I firstly answer the eight question:
1. My illustration style tends to be commercial, so I can tell them that it is my own characteristic animation style and they can understand it.
2. My style can be used in comics, animation concept illustration, animation character design, novel cover illustration and so on.
3. My audience is ACG culture fans and fans of some entertainment novels, as well as young people who pursue trendy culture and popular aesthetics.
4. As mentioned above, my work is relatively commercial. I may design characters for an anime or provide illustrations for a novel. In the end, how many people can see and understand my work depends on how influential the anime or novel can be. But at the same time, I want to run my own social media account. I will release works with my own ideas on my social media platforms from time to time, such as illustrations with themes of women's rights and environmental protection. Meanwhile, I will draw some fan art to accumulate fans. I hope I can develop in a diversified way. Although I have my main business, I will not give up my exploration in other fields, so as to expand the scope of my audience.
5. I dream of working as a cartoonist, book art editor, freelance illustrator or art narrator at an auction house or museum. I don't really have a set goal for myself. I started studying art because I was confused about my past life. I had planned to study science, take the college entrance examination and find a job in China as society expected, but this did not seem to be the life I wanted. I'm not a brave person, but I pushed myself to go in the direction my parents had set out to find what I liked. I like animation since I was a child, so I choose to go abroad to attend art university. I got into ECU, but it dawned on me that when my hobby became a career, I might not have such a passion anymore. Compared to my previous enthusiasm, I'm actually a little lost now.
6. I am deeply influenced by social, cultural, political and other ideologies. Before I came to ECU, I just liked animation and wanted to learn more. Now, after studying history, humanities and social sciences, I am deeply influenced by the thoughts of postmodernism. I began to deconstruct the phenomena around me, and I realized that most of the things I take for granted in life are not the truth, but are determined by social structure, culture, politics and many other factors. Therefore, my illustrations often deconstruct these problems. I think I have a good command of my thoughts, but what bothers me is that my illustration style tends to be commercial, and sometimes I want to express a very academic point of view. This makes my illustrations sometimes look less formal. I have seen the works of other professional illustrators on the Internet. They are also very commercial illustration style, but they use exquisite drawing skills, thought-provoking composition and highly atmospheric colors to create a picture worthy of repeated taste and reflection, which is also the direction I want to move forward.
7. I'm worried about finding a suitable job in the future. My technical skills are not good enough for a commercial illustrator or cartoonist. Meanwhile, as an artist, my painting style is not distinctive enough, and my works are not suitable to be placed in the art gallery.
8. As mentioned above, I actually feel that my painting style and skills are in a very awkward position. Moreover, if I return to work in China after graduation, it is almost impossible for me to gain profits by exhibiting in art gallery. I can only work as a commercial illustrator, but my painting skills are not excellent enough, and my physical fitness is not good, so I can hardly experience high-intensity work. But Chinese companies often work 12-hour days, six days a week. If I had stayed in Canada, I would have no family, no friends and my English was not good enough, which would have made it difficult for me to integrate into the local community and culture. I feel very confused about the future.
Then I summarize some keywords:
commercial, academic, digital, animation, light, high- rendering, conflicted
Finally, the "nouns" I choose are: self, cat, wishbone flower, dawn, and conflict
Each of noun represents some meaning. What I want to show is my theme of conflict between business and art. I hope to add some representation worthy of interpretation into my commercial illustration style, so as to find a balance between commercial illustration and art, and let future business clients know that I have the ability to transform words into representation and integrate them into commercial illustration. This illustration can be regarded as cover art.