Zhengping Shao (He/His)
I’m an illustrator from China who specialises in visual narrative. During my postgraduate, I focused on developing my narrative ability and breaking through my original visual language. My practice focuses on narratives explored through mundane experiences at an emotional level. The inspiration for my works comes from stories happening around me. I explore these stories and emotional experiences by using surreal imagination and colliding with reality with self-effacing humour.
When I start to draw
When I start to draw is black and white comic focuses on the blank page and the associated anxiety every artist experiences when facing the challenge and potential it presents. My story rides the wave of self-doubt as a shared experience of rising to face the challenge as an essential stage in realizing the potential in any creative practice. In this story, I personified my anxiety, employing the surreal fantasies of my imagination, colliding with reality with self-effacing humour.
Creative anxiety is a common phenomenon in the artist community, and I experienced constant creative anxiety during my time at GSA due to the changes in my study environment. I want to use this comic I will be able to relieve my anxiety by recording the negative emotions in my daily life and trying to adapt to this change in environment and give the reader an emotional identity.
How I finished my work
This is a two-page comic I drew in the comics workshop on Stage 3. I drew a story of an artist who had to fight with his procrastination. This story is based on my own experience during my postgraduate study. I used a humorous and surreal way to present the struggle of artists with procrastination in the creative process.
This is a mini work derived from when I start to draw, which explored the anxiety faced by artists in their daily life from a more subtle and specific perspective.
