I'm Zhixin Huang (also known as Senman YAN on social media). I graduated from Kingston University with a first class honours degree in Fine Art in 2020 and now studying Visual Communication (Illustration) at the Royal College of Art. I work and create as an independent illustrator, graphic designer, toy designer and experimental artist, co-founder of independent design brand PON Studio.
Zhixin Huang
I am an observer of life and interpret it in an absurd way. In my works, I often narrate stories by mapping a miniature of a society, allowing the audience to imagine the social situation through playful visual expressions. I believe that naivety is a wonderful force, like a telescope disguised as a kaleidoscope, a way of thinking and of seeing wisdom in small things.
Paper Butterfly is an animation of a short story about 'life' and 'dreams' in which to express some of my thoughts on life's dilemmas and reality in a childish tone.
At the beginning of the story, a boy is secretly folding a paper butterfly in class, but his teacher soon notices him. And his paper butterfly is taken. The teacher tells him that the direct line is the shortest line between two points, and we all should choose the most 'correct' line, with fewer detours in our life.
But is there a 'right line' in life? I used this little scene to provoke follow-up questions.
However, at the end of the story in this animation, the teacher looks at her students' paper butterfly that recalls her own childhood, which makes her vacillate over her belief in the 'right line'.
In combination with the images in the animation, the children's voices in the soundtrack are naive ideas of 'dreams' from kindergarten children. I hope to counter the anxieties and dilemmas in our life with the power of innocence and restore reality with a childlike tone. The animation format allows me to tell the story in a flexible way. What I hope to convey through animation is not only a story, but also a fluid thinking process about life and dreams.
Click the link or images to view the full animation.
Medium:
Digital AnimationSize:
3840*2160px
The starting line of life
Many people think that life isn't fair at the beginning, hence the definition of 'life's starting line'. Some are born without the gifts others possess, it takes more effort to make up for them. Sometimes, 'life's starting line' is a lifelong anxiety. In China, many parents choose to send their children to 'interest classes' to learn skills. These independent business education institutions often boast of 'winning at the starting line', which arouses the anxiety of some parents and urges them to take their children to learn various skills.
The game
My design is based on the classic rules of UNO card games. I replaced the content of cards with their own visual design. The original rules of UNO were retained, it also requires the players to shout out certain sentences on the cards while participating in the game. For example, they will need to say 'I can... ' or 'I would be successful if I could...when I was...years-old' when using skill cards.
Visual symbols
I used a variety of stationery as graphics, placing them into new forms to represent the skills that 'get you a win at the starting line'. These stationery on the one hand represent the 'classroom' environment, but also remind people of the identity of 'students'. As a visual symbol, stationery is used instead of words to reflect the limited social cognition of young students. They blindly understand and try to reach the 'goals' imposed by their parents and society with their limited social experience. They are under pressure, but still naive about the future.
Medium:
PaperSize:
87*56mm
Untitled Market
My project of publication is about the changes in everyone’s life that were brought by covid-19. Everyone who has attended the year 2020 has their lives changed in many ways. We were suddenly forced to work and study from home, cities were blocked, social was limited. No place or country can escape from this disaster, but we have quickly adapted to the fast-changing world.
In addition to my personal feelings, I read a lot of news during the epidemic. The news I read were an important source of inspiration for my publication. After finishing this book, I will reorganize some representative news headlines I read during the epidemic and add them as appendices at the end of the book. I went from nervously watching the daily increase in the number of confirmed cases to becoming numb to the news, as humans' ability to forget is as powerful as their ability to adapt.
As an illustrator, I hope to record some incredible changes through drawings and words. This publication is presented as an imaginary supermarket magazine. It introduced many fictional products which are not existing in the real world but created inspired by the changes of the past year. The products include, for example, the sugar that can temporarily dull one‘s taste and face masks with teats of baby bottles, which represents the stubbornness and distrust of science that some people show when asked to wear masks. Bubble helmets and remote handshakes recorded social restrictions during the epidemic.
The functions of these fictional products match the problems we have faced. However, in the pages, I described them in the tone of selling a real product.