Xiong Liang, author of 24 Solar Terms. [Photo by Mei Jia/China Daily]

It all started with fish

Aspirational artist

Illustrator and writer Xiong Liang has just returned from Shuhe, Yunnan province, where he spent a week as a volunteer teacher at a local school. It was his first time teaching children younger than 10 how to paint.

Xiong first listened closely to the restless noise his temporary pupils made as they prepared for the painting class, a break from the strict school routine. Then with great patience and some games he came up with on the spot, he calmed the students. The classroom was filled with laughter by the time the class ended.

A self-professed former "wild child" and still a child at heart today, in recent years Xiong has been seeking the best way to combine drawing and education.

As an artist, Xiong works across many mediums, on canvas and paper, creating stories and drawing pictures "to make children feel happy", Xiong says. "But it's meaningless just to draw something simple to reach that goal. It's essential to be able to convey an artist's own idea and opinion in the pictures."

Browsing through all the lighthearted rabbits and lions Xiong drew with ink and watercolor brushes, you wouldn't know he was once a Kafka illustrator, painting eccentric and dark pictures for Metamorphosis.

Xiong likes to create a picture that can resonate with his small readers and also echo universal humanity. His storytelling blends reality and fantasy, and his variation of lines and shades creates a distinctive moody style.

Born in 1975 in Zhejiang province, Xiong was encouraged by his parents to take ink painting lessons from age 5. Without a university degree, the self-taught Xiong has become one of the most established illustrators of children's books in China today. He has created more than 20 popular children's books over the past 10 years.

Most of his works have been published globally in multiple languages, and he is nominated for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Awards by The International Board on Books for Young People.

Picture books are not an established genre in China and it is only with the exposure to Western books in recent years that there has been an increased interest in this art form. Xiong turned to children's books after his daughter was born in 2003, blending in Chinese elements such as Peking Opera and Monkey King.

"What a child reads and sees will never run away from his or her memories", and this why Xiong continues to take inspiration from Chinese folklore and ancient tales. "I hope to offer something that helps to create an unforgettable childhood for my daughter."

The newly released 24 Solar Terms is a calendar of 24 periods of time that governs agricultural arrangements in ancient China and functions even now. The work was commissioned by the Meridian collective, an independent creative project that tries to bridge understanding between Chinese and Western culture.

Xiong chose a unisex human figure as metaphor of the Earth and depicted every solar term's impact on it. Xiong asked all the curious children who came with their parents to the book launch, "Imagine you are a part of the soil, what does your body feel if you are hibernating with all the animals in winter?"

Xiong describes his writing and illustration work process as directing a drama, and he will continue creating picture books combined with theater works in the future.

For China Daily