Meet artist from Seattle, Yangtian Li

 

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was born in Chengdu, China and left Chengdu to go to Australia for college when I was 18. Then I traveled around a lot over the years until finally decide to move to Seattle, US. For the last decade, I’ve been working as a professional artist in the video game industry. I mainly do concept art and illustration and worked for companies such as Treyarch, Wizards of the Coast, and Amazon Games etc. Right now I am working fulltime as a senior concept artist at a new studio named Singularity 6 and working on our very first title.

 

Describe the city you’re living in and what it’s like to live there.

I really love Seattle because it’s a great combination of the tech industry and beautiful scenery. A lot of new/exciting opportunities in Seattle while at the same time it has the most beautiful forests, lakeview, mountain, and change of seasons. My hometown has a similar type of rainy weather in winter and honestly, it really doesn’t rain as much as how people describe it. I love gardening and the weather here is perfectly for that too! Not to mention that coffee is great here, and also a super dog friendly city.

 

I really love Seattle because it’s a great combination of the tech industry and beautiful scenery. A lot of new/exciting opportunities in Seattle while at the same time it has the most beautiful forests, lakeview, mountain, and change of seasons. My hometown has a similar type of rainy weather in winter and honestly, it really doesn’t rain as much as how people describe it. I love gardening and the weather here is perfectly for that too! Not to mention that coffee is great here, and also a super dog friendly city.

 

What is the best and worst thing about living in your city?

I love the change of season in here because living in Australia the seasons was the opposite to northern hemisphere, then when I moved to Singapore it was just tropical weather without the change of seasons much. Seattle has very distinct seasons and it’s great for someone to enjoy nature. I really love seeing plants sprouting in spring, blooming flowers in summer, and enjoy the harvest in fall and hygge winter. The worst is probably safety here in states, without getting into politics last year hasn’t been the most peaceful year. I wish that there’s no violence and crimes.

 

Give us 3 words that describe what it’s like to be a creative in your city.

Thriving, enjoying and coffee

 

How did you start your career in art?

In my family, my grandpa, my parents are all artists, so I’ve always had a strong interest in art since a very young age. So I naturally just wanted to pursue art. During childhood, I watched a lot of animation and as a teenager I played a lot of video games and read a lot of manga, so working as an artist in the entertainment field was a natural path for me.

 

In my family, my grandpa, my parents are all artists, so I’ve always had a strong interest in art since a very young age. So I naturally just wanted to pursue art. During childhood, I watched a lot of animation and as a teenager I played a lot of video games and read a lot of manga, so working as an artist in the entertainment field was a natural path for me.

 

Were the people around you supportive of your decision on working as a creative?

Mostly yes. As mentioned, my family are artistic so they are definitely supportive, but when I was young my parents did wish me to do something else other than art. As artists themselves, they knew this is not an easy career.

 

What are some goals and ambitions you have for your future work?

I really would like to work on a personal project of my own, telling a story in the form of comic/manga and hope that can be turned into something bigger. But right now I really enjoy the project I’m working on with singularity6, it’s basically a dream game project and I’m lucky to be on the team with so much talent.

 

I really would like to work on a personal project of my own, telling a story in the form of comic/manga and hope that can be turned into something bigger. But right now I really enjoy the project I’m working on with singularity6, it’s basically a dream game project and I’m lucky to be on the team with so much talent.

 

If you could collaborate with any person in the world who would it be?

I really can’t think of anyone alone because I really wanted is to have a team collaborating together, possibly working on the personal project I mentioned earlier.

 

What are the biggest challenges you face in working as a creative?

Time – I really wish I have 48 hours a day! I have a fulltime job and I take commissions every now and then – this eat up my free time. I need more time for my personal work and it’s kind of impossible to do personal work outside of the fulltime job and commissions.

 

How would you describe the women around you?

I tend to love having intelligent, independent and hard-working women friends, we share laughs, celebrate each other’s achievements and can have honest discussions.

 

Were there any local female creatives that you looked up to when you were growing up?

I wouldn’t say ‘growing up’ with but locally in Seattle there are a lot of talented female artists such as Naomi Baker, Joy Ang, Jingna Zhang, just to name a few, but there are so many more! I would also say I looked up to my parents growing up because after all they are my very first art teachers. 😊

 

Be prepared to work hard but also believe in yourself, you can absolutely do it!

 

Do you have any advice for other women who are aspiring to work in your field?

Be prepared to work hard but also believe in yourself, you can absolutely do it!

 

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What type of music do you like to listen to?

Easy listening pop music most of the time, but also love piano music when I’m trying to relax.

 

What’s your favorite local food spot?

Before the pandemic, we went to Deru Market in Kirkland a lot. But we haven’t gone out to eat much since then so I’m not too sure where is my favorite now.

 

Shaivalini Kumar asks: How do you choose which clients to work with?

I don’t think I really have the luxury to choose a client, they pick me haha! But if it’s a new client approaching me, I will definitely research what projects they had/currently working on, and cross check with other professional artists to see if they had experiences working with the clients. Ideally, I’d prefer clients that have clear goals, reasonable time frame and decent pay.

 

Siqi Song asks: What is the best reaction you get when others see your work?

Gasp? XD

 

What question would you like us to ask the next artist?

What makes your art mostly you?

 

 

Photos courtesy of Yangtian Li