Sydney-based artist Nancy Liang is known for her whimsical looping gifs of star-filled nights. An illustrator first and foremost, Liang is also an artist, an animator, and a creative coder, with her unconventional process including programming, craft, and illustration. “Being creative is way more interesting when you experiment and play across different fields!” she remarks on her website.
Making paper-crafted collages both traditionally and digitally, Liang constructs dreamlike images and animations of urban landscapes and sleepy scenes of Australian suburbia. “I think of myself as an artist who was put on this planet to push the boundaries in some way in the creative field and contribute something interesting,” she says. “My work is all about revealing the hidden wonders of our everyday suburbs, but also delves into histories and stories, especially of a past Australia.”
Having studied design at UNSW Art and Design, her degree allowed her to explore different avenues of design such as graphics, jewelry, textiles, and sustainability. “Although I originally studied design, a lot of who I am now in illustration is self-made,” she says. “I drifted through my studies and only buckled down and worked hard in illustration near the very end of my degree. I tried a huge variety of styles (and was absolutely horrible with color to begin with) before finding a path I was happy with after a year or two. I’m not sure why, but funnily enough, my practice has always involved some sort of collage work whether it be traditional, digital or both!”
What interests her most about illustration is how it can go beyond a static image and merge with new technologies such as interactive media to create new stories. Take a look at her incredible creations in the gallery below:
