Photo: Courtesy of Luo Yuan

"Can you please draw a chubby man with a beer belly for me? My dad had lymphoma and he was very skinny when he passed away in July. I just miss him as he used to be." After seeing this request on his social media account, Chinese illustrator Luo Yuan used several simple strokes to sketch a small cartoon of a chubby man holding a bright green shining star in his hands. 

This simple sketch and many others like it have gone viral on social media in recent months, as numerous netizens have written to Luo asking him to make personalized drawings for them.

The drawings first got their start back in May 2021 shortly after the death of Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, the country's "father of hybrid rice," from an illness. On a whim, Luo drew a cute cartoon figure of an elderly man standing among seedlings in a rice field, holding a bowl of rice in one hand and a shining green star in the other, to express his grief and bid farewell to this great man. 

The unique and simple idea from this Gen Z artist quickly went viral across Chinese social media, and soon Luo was receiving requests from netizens every single day. Over the past year, the artist has drawn more than 1,000 of these cartoon figures. 

For this young illustrator, this situation came about "naturally."

"After people saw my work, they started to leave messages in the comments asking if I could draw some images of their close relatives or friends who they had deep longings or hopes for. I thought these stories were quite special, so I agreed," Luo told the Global Times.

Working as a designer and illustrator during the day, Luo spends his time off at night and during the weekends drawing these figures. Usually he uses a needle pen to create an outline of the character and then fills the stars in with a highlighter.  

For beloved 

Born in a seaside city in South China's Guangdong Province, Luo has fallen in love with drawing since he was a child. He got into the habit of drawing small cartoon figures when he was at college, which has stuck with him to this day.

Among the countless messages received on various platforms every day, most have been about grandchildren's love for their elders. 

"In China, there's always a special bond between grandparents and their grandchildren," he noted. 

After that came requests for drawings of people struggling with illness.

For Luo, reading the comments about his work is like reading a book on life that talks about everything from relatives that one hasn't seen for a long time to friends who are tortured by illness. 

"The stories contain all the facets of life in this world," he said.

Luo gave an example of one memorable post he saw in comments: "The one of a couple in a long-distance relationship, who also suffered from depression, left the message." 

So Luo drew a couple holding up the shining star together in the hopes that the two could meet soon and overcome this difficulty together. 

In another example, Luo was asked to draw an elderly man holding a cat and a star.  

"Before he died, this person's grandpa wanted a cat to stave off loneliness. Yet he passed away due to a stroke before the kitten even reached adulthood."

According to Luo, his choice of subject doesn't depend on how sad the story is. "There are no fixed criteria because I am really moved by each story as they are all unmeasurable."

"It feels sad when you see so many people are in fact struggling in their lives. The only thing I hope is that I can bring some warmth to those who are now living a rather miserable life and hope they can overcome it as soon as possible," Luo added.

Talking about his next goal, Luo said it's quite simple. "After 1,000, my next goal is 10,000. And I will do this as long as there are comments in my social media channel."

Photo: Courtesy of Luo Yuan

• Yuan Longping with a bowl of rice: Luo Yuan drew China's "father of hybrid rice" to commemorate the great scientist.
  
• A patient: The subject of this drawing is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia.
  
• A soldier: A young boy asked Luo Yuan to draw his uncle, who has lost contacts with his family for months.
  
• A chubby man: A son asked for a drawing of his dad, who died from lymphoma, when he was healthy and strong.
  
• A fireman: The sister of a fireman asked for a drawing of her brother, who died during a fire rescue.