Meet Lia Liao | Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lia Liao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lia, why did you pursue a creative career?
I would say the unreliability of languages and words lead me to art where I can communicate silently without misunderstandings. Text can be interpreted into different meanings in different contexts for different people. In my work, I want to deliver my sincerest feelings which I tend not to share with people in real life. In my work, I tend to explore a way to connect people with still images, using compositions, metaphors, and color to deliver a certain emotion, that hopefully can be received by audiences.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I start my artistic life for hobbies and make it professional. I majored in psychology at my college and decided to pursue illustration after graduation. Films and literature have always been a huge part of my life for their penetrating inspection of the inner world of humans in an artistic way, while psychology provides me with a scientific perspective on the same topic. The connection was so fascinating that I was desperate to find a medium to express myself through creation. I think psychology still plays a major part in my style these days, I tend to use some psychological skills to compose the image. There are several shared principles between art and psychology that are capable of catching people’s eyes such as creating a strong HSB comparison to make the main element jump out of the background, and the rule of thirds (placing the major visual component in a third of the image, leaving the other two third open). Color psychology has also played a crucial role in my process. The emotion of color can be detected by people much more efficiently than they thought. If I want the image to deliver a chill and relaxed vibe, I would use as little dark color as possible, on contrast, when black and grey-tone take the major part of the image, it can easily make the audience settle down and believe that there is something needs to be treated seriously.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There is a brilliant restaurant I just want to recommend to anyone who asks me for advice called Two Urban Licks. The decoration is modern and neat, the food is so creative and well-designed, the taste of food is unique and memorable, and the service is nice too.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to all the amazing movies and books that open the gate of art in front of me and bring me to where I am today, enjoying making a living by my own creation.

Website: www.lialiaoland.com

Instagram: @lialiaoland

Image Credits
Lia Liao