Hello, I’m Cinyee Chiu, a Taiwanese illustrator. My style is a combination of traditional and digital materials. I draw for picture books, editorials, product packages, and animations. I enjoy drawing nature. I just finished a 1.5-year world traveling digital nomad life with my husband.

Taoyuan is where the international airport is located. Because it’s close to Taipei, many people choose to live in Taoyuan and commute to Taipei because housing is much more affordable here.

The best is being close to Taipei. The worst is having not much to do. But everywhere in Taiwan has a lot of places to eat so it’s not that bad.

desert, trivia, growing

I majored in economics in undergrad, but after graduation, I realized I didn’t want to do related jobs at all. I found a job that allowed me to draw in a game company, and after three years I went to study illustration in the US at Maryland Institute College of Art. After I got my MFA degree, I started to work as a freelance illustrator. I was lucky that my artworks on social media brought some attention, and it didn’t take long before I could live on freelancing.

At first no. My parents are from a law background and had no idea how can a person live on drawing. I first proved that someone is willing to hire me when I got into the game company, then I proved I’m the kind of good that got accepted by many art schools. Now they are very proud of me and they see me live on drawing and having a good life.

I want to develop my style in a way that relies less on digital and produce picture books regularly. For work, I haven’t tried making an illustration for game apps, I might like to try this once.

It took me a long time to answer this one…. I think maybe Emma Waston. She is a feminist icon and cares about the environment and human rights, the values I care most about. Not sure what we can do together yet, but I’ll feel honored helping raising more public awareness about these issues.

Well, there are many different types, even just in my family. But my mom is the one I admire the most, she’s strong and independent. She puts a lot of effort in the family, at the same time devotes to her law career and always works hard to move the field in a better direction. She is fearless and dares to say and do things even while others keep silent.

There are not many known local female creatives when I was a kid (tears). The creatives grabbed my attention were all males, some from Taiwan some from Japan.

Not really, I haven’t faced any issues because of my gender. I actually feel there are more women than men in the illustration field. But oddly, there seem to be more FAMOUS male illustrators, or at least not proportional.

Be confident, know you are good. Don’t get frustrated and give up too easily. Know that you always have room to improve, and always challenge yourself.