Accent

💬ACCENT is a 30-page picture book. Adapted from personal experience, it tells the story of a girl from a small town who speaks with an accent and finds her identity in Beijing.

The images are drawn using Chinese ink and wash painting with collage. The use of wrinkled paper and handwritten fonts represent the accent that is out of place in the big city, while the use of flat paper and black type represents the strict and uniform expression paradigm of the big city.

The morning glories that often bloom in the hometown are used as an intention, and their trumpet-like shape is borrowed to symbolize the author herself who is communicating with others.

Age 19.5

🎂Age19.5 is a small collection of my paintings, recording the last six months of my life before turning twenty.

Click to read the full book

Nickname

🎒Nickname is a 24-page children's picture book. It is intended to guide children to understand the physical characteristics of others as features rather than flaws.

The Passing River

🐟The Passing River(《逝川》） is a 50-page picture book adapted from a short novel by Chinese female writer Chi Zijian（迟子建）.

Chi Zijian was born in Northeast China, and her works contain the characteristics of cold aesthetics.

The story happened in the fishing village of Ajia beside the Passing River. An old fisherwoman who named Ji Xi delivered the baby to the granddaughter-in-law of her young lover in her twilight years. There are a large number of reminiscences in the story. As Ji Xi sees and hears, readers can gradually piece together the whole story of her love story when she was young.

This book mainly uses collage techniques and is inspired by the fish skin art of the Hezhe nationality（赫哲族）, a minority group in the author's hometown. The Hezhe people peel off the skin of salmon to make raw materials, which are then made into clothes and utensils. Illustrator cut out shapes from textured paper. In the details of hair and clothes, the Chinese painting technique of "cracking" is added, that is, using light dry ink to draw the direction of some hair and wrinkles on the face, as well as the folds of clothes and quilts. It not only adds more details to the picture, but also fits the cold winter atmosphere in Northeast China.


8DUANJIN

☯️8DUANJIN is a set of visual designs for a Qigong themed rave. I planned a series of events for this imaginary electronic music club.

At school, I took a traditional Chinese qigong class called Baduanjin. It is very slow and focuses on the adjustment of breathing, physical activity and consciousness for the elderly, coupled with mental self suggestion and entering into a state of self-hypnosis in order to strengthen the body. The instructor and most of my practice partners are older adults. However, outside of school, my friends and I often danced until dawn to electronic music. On the underground dance floor, the word "practice" is popular to describe the state of dancing to oblivion. The two activities I enjoy are very different in terms of frequency of movement and the age group of the main participants, but they have the same purpose - to achieve both physical and mental relaxation. So I designed a club activity that combined the two. I created rules for the event, prepared special drinks, and designed toys as souvenirs.



EVENT POSTERS




These are the posters for the three club nights, which took place every Friday in May. The light to dark symbolizes the gradual dance to a deeper night. The three titles, PHYSIQUE, BREATH and SPIRIT are also considered to be the three stages of Chinese Qigong learning.


Comics

These three wordless cartoons are the rules of the qigong themed rave.

Special Drinks
This is the advertising cartoon of the special drink. The ancient Chinese liked to put wine in a gourd so that the wine would have the aroma of the gourd.


Free Entry
This is the condition for free admission - bring an older friend over 60 years old, and hopefully this condition will allow fashionable ravers to bring their elders at home to the club.


Dress Code
This cartoon portrays the dress code - people are asked to wear clothes with loose sleeves because it is easier to stretch their arms and legs.




STICKER&WRISTBAND

All the Nights in the World

🌙ALL THE NIGHTS IN THE WORLD is a series of novel covers I drew for the Chinese female author Zijian Chi. These are fan works. Her literary works have had a great influence on me. She often depicts women facing material and spiritual hardships, but these characters often represent a  brilliance of humanity.

I chose to paint the covers for six of my favorite stories, choosing soft colors to show the gentleness of the characters' exteriors and using various lights to symbolize their inner strength and determination.

Chi is well known in China, and I hope that foreign readers will feel interested in the content of her novels through my illustrations.

Yoga Lovers

🧘 In a couple's yoga class, there are all kinds of pairs—some working in perfect harmony, others putting in effort, a few with one partner slacking off, and even some who argue. These interaction patterns reflect different relationship styles and states. I also created a zine called A Guide for Yoga Lovers, which uses illustrations to highlight six key points that apply to both love and yoga: spending time together, harmony, communication and empathy, physical connection, maintaining balance, and having shared goals.



Since childhood, I’ve always enjoyed listening to and discussing various love stories (including a bit of gossip, of course). After experiencing some dramatic relationships of my own, I finally met my current boyfriend while traveling alone in April. Despite the 13-hour time difference between us, I’ve found someone I genuinely want to love. This prompted me to reflect on my past experiences—not comprehensively, as I’m still learning—but I felt inspired to share the lessons I’ve gathered so far through my artwork. I believe love and yoga have a lot in common, so I used yoga as a lens to explore topics related to love.

Flower Clothes

🩱Flower Clothes is an independent animated short film in the process of production. The full length of the film is two and a half minutes. The animation expresses the daughter's perspective on the ideal life of a woman with two social roles: mother and employee.

The painting method of monoprints was used to draw frame-by-frame animation and the pattern of topiary as the fabric of flower clothes. A lot of texture of the prints is retained to keep the randomness of the images.







Gentle Humor

📃Gentel Homor is a series of wordless nine-panel cartoons that tell dry jokes.

Glasses

👓Glasses is a six-spread, wordless comic about funny moments with glasses.

Ceramics

🍚Ceramics made in Jingdezhen City in early 2022.

Sketchbook

✍️Sketchbooks from September 2019 to present.

Qiyuan Wen      

wén  qíyuán


I am an illustrator based in Baltimore.

I tell stories about the love I learned from partners, sisters, and moms.

Contact📮quanwen012@gmail.com


EDUCATION

Beihang University,
Department of New Media Art and Design,
Painting
Sep 2019 - June 2023

Maryland Institute College of Art,
Illustration Practice,
August 2024 - May 2026


AWARDS

the 19th China Animation & Comic Competition Golden Dragon Award
The Best Academy Comic Gold Award
2022

the 2nd Cai Zhizhong Comic Prize
HUANGPU NEW TALENT PRIZE
2022

the 9th Beijing College Student Animation & Design Competition
First prize in the illustration category
2021

ijungle illustration awards
Merit prize
2021

the National College of Digital Art & Design awards
Silver Prize
2021

Qiyuan Wen (ao)    

wén  qíyuán


I am an illustrator based in Baltimore.

I tell stories about the love I learned from partners, sisters, and moms.

Contact📮quanwen012@gmail.com


EDUCATION

Beihang University,
Department of New Media Art and Design,
Painting
Sep 2019 - June 2023

Maryland Institute College of Art,
Illustration Practice,
August 2024 - May 2026