Yuan Xingliang poses for a photo at his home in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

Phoenix in the Autum: the Moon Palace Photos: Courtesy of Yuan Xingliang

No matter what your nationality is or how old you are, a glimpse of Chinese sculptor Yuan Xingliang's Phoenix in the Autumn: the Moon Palace will take your breath away with its overwhelming beauty.

In the sculpture, the soft and gentle features of a sleeping woman's face stands out in sharp contrast to the Chinese pavilions and gardens bursting from her left head and cheek, the phoenix lying on her head and a rabbit's upper body stretched above her right ear. 

The elements of motion and stillness are incorporated so seamlessly in the figure it becomes the perfect embodiment of story and drama. Viewers on Twitter have used words such as "dreamlike" and "inspirational" to describe the work. When the sculpture was presented at a competition, Alban Ficat, a French sculptor and one of the judges at the competition, gave Yuan full marks. 

Yuan said the statue was inspired by the Chinese folk tale of Chang'e, a beautiful woman who steals her husband's elixir of immortality and becomes the goddess of the moon. Despite its strong connection to traditional Chinese culture, its beauty has won the admiration of people from all over the world. 

From hobby to career

Yuan chose sculpting as his major while studying at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. Although he was eager to focus on making sculptures upon graduation, Yuan instead went to work for Chinese video game company NetEase Games since he didn't believe he could earn a living as a full-time artist. During his seven years working at the company as an art designer, making small clay fantasy-themed sculptures became a hobby of his that he pursued mainly during his free time after work.

It is not until Yuan won several important figurine sculpture competitions and demand for collectable sculptures began increasing in China that Yuan began to seriously consider starting a professional career as a sculptor. 

When talking about his original desire in making these artworks, Yuan said that when he was a little boy, he was extremely fond of Japanese and US cartoons and especially loved playing with modeling clay.

Aware that there are plenty of excellent sculptors who excel at sculpting characters based on Japan, US and European culture, Yuan sought out inspiration in traditional Chinese culture, which lead to the creation of works such as his Tongtian River and Spring Awn: Peach Island.

During an interview with a model sculpting club, he explained that Chinese figurine artists for the most part focus on creating works for themselves, unlike their US counterparts who often make models for VFX movie production. 

Focus on originality

"I don't draw a complete draft in advance and follow every stroke on paper. Instead, 70 percent of the ideas of my work is sketched beforehand, but the remaining 30 percent comes out during the process of creation," Yuan told the Global Times.

Yuan noted that sometimes he comes across roadblocks when he feels dissatisfied with how a work is progressing or because he has been working on it too long. 

"If you stare at one object for a long time, you will lose your judgment of which part is beautiful and which is not. I usually need to take a break and turn to other things before restart a project," Yuan said. 

As an artist, Yuan said he understands he needs to stand out from the competition by being unique, but noted that he doesn't want to always present the same personal style. Although his works are mainly based on Chinese culture, the themes, content and styles vary. While working on a model based on Journey to the West, he tried to stand apart by not sculpting the Monkey King as many artists do, but instead the monk Tang Sanzang and his disciples getting thrown into the water by a giant turtle. 

Because original works are generally less popular than ones featuring famous cartoon characters, Yuan makes the beauty of his works his No.1 priority. 

"I always prioritize the structures and balance of my work. If the structure is appealing, I will try to come up with a story behind it. Customers don't care about the themes or stories in my works if they don't like the appearance first," Yuan explained. 

"This is totally different from the process of creating figures related to some IP." 

He also holds open attitudes towards the use of high technology, such as 3D printing. 

3D printing lowered the threshold for figure creation and I also use it for some of the complicated parts of my works," Yuan told the Global Times. 

According to Yuan, the number of professional model sculptors in China is still low. 

They usually have opportunities to communicate with each other at anime and comic book shows and the Wonder Festival Shanghai, a newly established branch of the Japanese figure exhibition in Tokyo.


Newspaper headline: Standing Out