Chrissy Wang was born in China and immigrated to Vancouver in 2004. The immigration was a big event that changed the course of her life. If she was still in China, the intense school studies would have taken all of her time and would not have allowed her to draw as much as she does now.

As she learned to speak English, her vision broadened and let her discover online artist communities, like DeviantART. The core to Chrissy’s continuing practice in art are her parents, who have made her life all the more easy for her by bringing her to Canada and continually encouraging her to stick to her artistic interests.

ToonariPost (TP): How and when did you first start practicing your art (are you traditionally trained or self-taught)?

Chrissy Wang (CW): Drawing is something that I love doing. I have been doodling and making art as long as I can remember! When I was a kid, I discovered my artistic talent, and ever since, drawing became something that made me proud of myself. Nowadays, I only practice digital art because it’s cheap and convenient, but before that, I took some art classes that only involved fine arts. For example, I sketched geometric plaster forms and models with pencils and I also did several paintings with acrylic.

TP: What mediums do you use for your art work?  Which is your favorite and why?

CW: Like I said, I hardly draw in traditional medium anymore because the supplies can be really expensive sometimes. My favorite medium to work with is definitely digitally with a tablet. My tablet was a gift from my parents 5 years ago. It’s a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet, which I think is for beginners or even kids because it is really small compared to everyone else’s. But I have already gotten used to it and I love it anyways.

TP: What made you decide to go digital with your art instead of going the traditional medium route?

CW: First of all, making art digitally can save a lot of money. I haven’t started working yet so I figured even though I can, I shouldn’t spend too much of my parents’ money. Besides, when I work digitally, it is also easier to showcase my works (Thanks DeviantART!) and advertise for myself.

TP: You also make animations. What made you decide to try your hand at this type of art? What are the most difficult aspects in creating animations and how do you get past them?

CW: I guess my interest in animation was deeply rooted in those childhood cartoons I watched, a classic example would be Tom and Jerry. When using chatting systems such as Yahoo, I also pay attention to those animated emoticons. During high school, when I came in contact with DeviantART I also discovered many deviants making their own gifs.

That is when I started making my own frame-by-frame animations. The downside of frame-by-frame animation is that it is extremely time consuming and it requires you to be patient, which I am not.

Especially when one is trying to achieve the “boiling line” effect, one has to redraw every single frame and that can take up quite a lot of one’s time ( You can see the boiling line effect in my animation named “Morning“. I had to draw 260+ frames individually ). For me, since I am quite impatient, that is why I ended up making my short, loop-able Momo pixel arts.

TP: What piece of your work is your favorite and why?  Which one are you most proud of?

CW: So far, my favorite piece in my gallery is the one called “Warrior“. I am mostly interested in illustration and I have always wanted to draw beautiful people in cool outfits, like those game concept arts out there, and “Warrior” is the closest one to that. Although you can see that, once again with my impatience, I made him almost naked because I couldn’t stand to take all that time with so many folds in the fabric.

I have a long way to go before I can train myself to be both more talented and more patient. I am most proud of the Momo pixel art series I made because they are loved by many people. When I first started with Momo, I was simply doing something silly for the laughs. But who knew it actually gained me a lot of popularity and compliments so I was instantly motivated to make more Momos. Personally, I wanted to strive to be noticed more on DeviantART and I believe Momo can help me achieve that.

Image Courtesy of   http://wangqr.deviantart.com

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About the author

Kala Istvanek
Presently, I am attending Carthage College in Kenosha, U.S.A. I will be graduating with a degree in Asian Studies, with a minor in English and Studio Art. I have been a bookworm ever since I could read and I can never turn down a book. Art is also one of my loves and discovering new artists is always a thrill for me.