A young graphic illustrator has earned international recognition by becoming the first Taiwanese to have his work featured on the cover of ImagineFX magazine, a leading monthly journal devoted to science fiction, fantasy and digital art.
Yu Han-yuan (游翰元), 28, is pursuing a master of fine arts degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. He said he appreciates the honor and the chance to share his work.
The cover of next month’s issue of ImagineFX ,which is already available, features a piece by Yu — an anime-style, adolescent girl wearing elaborate headwear, a purple gown and accoutrements based on motifs from Aboriginal cultures.
Photo courtesy of Yu Han-yuan
The magazine’s cover introduces Yu as the month’s featured artist with a blurb about the feature story that says: “Magic Manga — paint art that pops, with fresh art skills from Taiwan’s Han-yuan Yu.”
On the ImagineFX Web site, it says: “Yu leads the charge. Our cover artist puts a distinctive spin on his trademark manga, adding Aboriginal costumes to create an indelible image, and he shows you how he did it in an in-depth five-page workshop.”
“It is my honor to be a featured artist, as well as the cover artist for ImagineFX. This is a first for a Taiwanese artist,” Yu said. “It is another encouragement for me, and a chance for my craft to be promoted.”
Photo courtesy of Yu Han-yuan
He uses “B.c.N.y.” as a pseudonym, and in the past his works have featured in Taiwan’s Creative Comic Collection Journal, various magazine illustrations and video game graphics.
According to Yu’s Web site, his art has been exhibited at the Morocco International Festival of Animated Film — CASANIM-Digit’Art — and also in Japan, France, New York and Los Angeles.
The UK-based ImagineFX has been in publication since 2006 and is known as the computer-graphic illustrators and digital artists’ bible.
As the news circulated, Taiwan’s digital artist communities cheered Yu’s feat, and congratulations poured in.
“It is wonderful to be recognized on the world stage,” Yu said.
“I was delighted that the magazine’s cover showed clearly that I am from Taiwan,” he added.
Yu said that the image on the cover was inspired by mythology, with baby dragons breaking out from their eggs and the sky turning from twilight to daylight in the background to express the passage of time.
An editor for the magazine described Yu’s artistic ability as “using brilliant colors, interesting compositions and dynamic gestures.”
Yu grew up in a family brimming with artistic talent and has been interested in painting since his childhood. With his academic achievements in high school, Yu said he could have been accepted into Taiwan’s top universities.
He said he followed his passion by enrolling in the Department of Information Communication’s Interactive Entertainment Technology school at Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan County.
“The leading universities are dream schools for Taiwanese students, but that was not for me... People should do what they are really interested in,” Yu said. “Creating and drawing pictures has always been a source of happiness for me. I love to express my inner thoughts through art.”
Yu said that since he was a child, Japanese manga and anime had a major influence on him and later he also developed an affection for the paintings of European masters.
The different genres inspired him to develop his unique style, he said.
“I love many cultures around the world and the artistic styles of ancient civilizations. The cultures of the Maya, Inca and Taiwanese Aborigines also captivate me. I am fascinated by the trails of human history and the cacophony of creation,” he said.
Now in his second year of studies in the US, Yu is looking ahead to stake out his future in the digital art industry.
“I want to keep on cultivating and expressing my own voice, to create a distinctive brand for myself,” he said.
“I hope for more opportunities for Taiwanese illustrators to shine on the world stage,” he added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods