Ping Zhu’s Art Is Vibrant and Cheerful

Brooklyn-based illustrator Ping Zhu has made quite a name for herself. Known for her bright-colored illustrations and paintings, full of character and movement, she has worked with publications like The New Yorker, Pentagram, Penguin and Nobrow Press, in addition to amassing a following of 77 thousand on Instagram.

Describing her style as “graphic yet gestural, flat yet dimensional,” she works by hand in order to fully appreciate the natural flow of mistake making. “The style is supported by the medium and I try to get along with it rather than fight against it,” she told the ADC blog.

“I’m not sure if it’s a specialty, but I feel that the most alive doing editorial work,” she added. “It’s very immediate and based on your database of metaphors, like a test of your reflexes. I admire comics very much but I’m definitely on the sidelines rather than in the playing field.”

Talking about her artistic background she recalled taking to illustration at a young age. “I started taking drawing lessons around 12 years old because I wanted to be around my friends who had signed up for the course.”

“Eventually they moved on to other things but drawing had opened up a channel for me,” she continued. “My point of no return was around 16 or 17 when I started realizing that people do this for a living, and somehow I’ve wandered to where I am now by making loads of mistakes and trying not to commit them a second time.”

“My ability to draw was learned through schooling by different teachers from different backgrounds,” she stressed.

Take a look at some of her wonderful creations in the gallery below.

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