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\nIt’s the first Sunday of the month, dear Imps, which means I welcome a student or otherwise relatively new-to-the-field illustrator here at 7-Imp. Today is a visit from Nan Coa<\/a><\/strong>, an illustrator living and working in New York City. Nan\u2019s work has been recognized by American Illustration<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, the Society of Illustrators<\/a><\/strong>, Communication Arts<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, the AOI<\/a><\/strong>, 3×3<\/em> Magazine<\/strong><\/a>, and more. She tells us more about herself below and shares some artwork. I thank her for visiting. Let’s get right to it!<\/p>\n
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Nan<\/font><\/strong>: Making illustrations is like building bridges for people to communicate with one another, to listen to various voices from different corners of life. In my illustration, I am focusing on creating artwork that speaks for colorful voices outside my social circle and beyond my own perspective. Doing editorial illustration work<\/a><\/strong> is a perfect way to fulfill my wish of making beautiful and clever artwork. Working on editorial illustration work usually means that we need to work with different prompts given to us by our clients. With each art project, I need to understand the concepts that my clients want me to convey and then target the core idea with my visual language in a symbolic, metaphoric, and creative way. For me, it\u2019s always a challenging and exciting process of reconciling my own visual voices with those of others. Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n 1)<\/strong><\/font> Nan’s vivid artwork. To follow her on Instagram, visit: @nancaoart.<\/p>\n 2)<\/strong><\/font> Still reading like a maniac. Soon, we make our BGHB<\/a><\/strong> decisions. <\/p>\n 3)<\/strong><\/font> Listening and watching Paul Fleischman<\/a><\/strong> and Melissa Sweet<\/a><\/strong> talk about their new book<\/a><\/strong> on a Zoom book launch of sorts this past week. <\/p>\n
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(Click image to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nNew York city is a fantastic melting pot for artists. Usually, I get my ideas from the surrounding environment \u2014 the paintings I see in museums, the poems and stories I read in books, the people who walk on the streets, and even the music that is played in the train stations. My interests have changed over time, but lately I receive most of my inspiration from surrealistic imagery and my daily life in the big city. In terms of mentors, I feel very lucky to have met lots of wise and talented artists on my artistic path. My MICA professors Alex Fine<\/a><\/strong> and Allan Comport<\/a><\/strong> opened my eyes to look at the illustration world with a broader view. My professor Alain Corbel<\/a><\/strong> had taught me the importance of being a serious and persistent artist, and Marshall Arisman<\/a><\/strong>, the Chairman at SVA, made me realize that being a great artist does not entail being “perfect.” We as artists need to learn our limitations, explore our strengths, and make those strengths shine.
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2020\/04\/nycdiary1.jpg\")
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a series of illustrations of New York City moments<\/em>
(Click each to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nMaking children’s books is a wonderful way for artists to tell stories with pictures. What I love about children’s books is that a good children’s book can tell very compelling stories in only a few pages. To make a beautiful children’s book, you have to be a charming storyteller, a deep thinker, and of course a creative visual artist. In beautiful picture books, there are always strong characters that can evoke and lead readers\u2019 emotions throughout the story. No matter if the plot is simple or complex, it brings people a sense of joy and makes people think, laugh, and cry. For me, making my own children’s books is a way to create worlds full of imagination, thoughts, and emotions that I want to tell and communicate with others. I believe that a successful children’s book is not only for children, but also brings thoughts and introspections to adults. I want to wave my view of the world into lines, shapes, colors, and stories, to offer my audiences mind-expanding concepts and vocabularies.
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\nShaun Tan<\/a><\/strong> is one of my favorite artists who has written and illustrated picture books with compelling stories and stunning artwork. His Rules of Summer<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is one of my favorite picture books, telling the bond of brotherhood with fun, strange, warm, and intimate stories and artwork. Like Rules of Summer<\/em>, my dream children’s book project is to write and illustrate my whole stories. There are some interesting animal characters in my mind now, and I\u2019d love to make a picture book to tell their stories.
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2020\/04\/spring.jpg\")
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“what people usually think about before they fall asleep.”<\/em><\/center>
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\nI have changed my medium over time. Before I began my illustration studies, I used to paint with oil on canvas or work with soft pastel and pencil. I followed this by teaching myself how to use digital programs and audit related classes to polish my skills. Lately, my preference has been to work with ink and digital color in most of my illustration projects with consideration of efficiency and flexibility. However, I\u2019ll paint with gouache and acrylic for long-term projects or gallery work. The soul behind most of my artwork is stories and concepts, and just like an operatic performance, the mediums are the different instruments that play for the art piece that is destined to sing.
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2020\/04\/hopesmall.jpg\")
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“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.”<\/em>
(Click image to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nAll illustrations reproduced by permission of Nan Cao.<\/em><\/p>\n
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