Chinese comics and illustration artist Rain (Ru An) is one of the most popular comics artists in China today. The prolific creator is also one of the oldest on China's emerging comics scene and a professor at her alma mater, the China Academy of Art. Her ethereal watercolors were featured in a gallery alongside Korean manhwa artist Seeyeon Won's works during last May's Third China International Cartoon and Animation Festival in Hangzhou. Like Korean manhwa, Rain’s illustrations play on the romance and whimsy of captured moments, infusing them with stylized yet subtle emotion. PWCW interviewed Rain at the Hangzhou festival back in May, when she discussed her recent books, her interest in animation and the contemporary Chinese comics scene.

PW Comics Week: You look very young. And where are you from?

Rain: I'm 27 years old. I am a local. My father is from Hangzhou. [According to Chinese tradition, a person hails from the location where his or her father is born.]

PWCW: How did you get started in comics?

Rain: I went to school at the China Academy of Art, here in Hangzhou. I also spent a year studying animation and film at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was the first time a Chinese exchange student attended RISD. This was in 2005.

PWCW: So you were an exchange student from the China Academy of Art?

Rain: Well, I graduated in 2004, but I was teaching at the China Academy of Art—I taught there for five years. I was a teacher but I pretended to be a student.

PWCW: Why did you want to study animation?

Rain: I always wanted to study animation in college, but my major was fashion design, and I always loved comics. I did comics in high school. I was published when I was 16 years old. So for 11 years, I've been doing it.

PWCW: Did you read comics when you were growing up?

Rain: Yes. At the time, I read comics from Taiwan and Japan. Comics in China are very young. Most famous Chinese comics artists are very young—30 years old, maybe. We don't have a long history.

PWCW: So you were able to find comics from Taiwan in China at the bookstore? Was it common?

Rain: We had Taiwan comics, but not much. Also, [back then] you can’t let your teacher know you're reading [comics]. I think now it’s more accepted, but in Chinese education, the text is the most important thing for students. For a child to be successful in China, she has to read.

P WCW: You loved comics, but you studied fashion design in school.

Rain: Now there is a major [in comics] in college at the CAA, but when I was in school there was none. I had to choose something else. So I chose design and learned comics by myself. I also needed to learn from life.

PWCW: What do you mean?

Rain: Someone told me that to be an artist, you must be an artist of life. You must know many things and enjoy life.

PWCW: How did fashion design influence your comics work?

Rain: It was the most important influence. Fashion design helped me serve the market. Comics are different from pure art. You must think of the people who you are doing the work for. You have to think about the market. It helped build my sense of service. It also gave me a sense of fashion and design and helped my drawing. I also studied many things like sculpture, water color, oil painting and traditional Chinese painting. It all helped my comics. Everything, I think, helped—also learning history [from around the world].

PWCW: Do you use watercolor for your comics and illustrations?

Rain: I use watercolor and computer art. In China, computer graphics used to be popular some years ago. But I don't just use CG. When there is a feeling that you want to explain, being close to nature is most important. Most of my work is handmade.

PWCW: And now you also do animation?

Rain: I have my first independent short film, which has been submitted to France for the Annecy Festival. It's called White Snake. It's [an adaptation of] a very old story— a love story—about a man and a white snake. The white snake becomes a beautiful woman and falls in love with the man.

PWCW: Your current book is Silent Rainbow.

Rain: Yes. It was published in May of this year.

PWCW: You’ve had two books published in China in the past, and all your work is published through Comicfans Culture.

Rain: Yes, Ethereal Wings [2004] and Midnight Ink [2005]. Ethereal Wings was actually the first comics collection in China. It’s the most expensive [65 renminbi, or RMB, or US$8.40—most comics retail for 20-28 RMB or US$2.60-3.60], but the print is very good. It’s on the same level as Japan or any other Asian country. We wanted it to be the best book in China. Not that expensive is good, but we wanted to do the best job possible. Before, design for comics in China was quite rough.

PWCW: Are you looking to publish your work in other countries?

Rain: I've had two collections published in Canada—one in 2004 or 2005, and one last year. I also had a show in Los Angeles last year. I want to introduce my work to a worldwide audience. I think that's the wish of every creator. I think my work really appeals to a female audience because it has some feeling to it. The style is also quite feminine.

PWCW: What is the Chinese comics industry like right now?

Rain: Right now it’s a teenager; it’s young, but pretending to be old. But it must [mature] quickly and catch up to the others [Japan and Korea]. The technique we have now is quite good, but the thing is, we are young. It’s limited my work. The experiences I've had have limited my work. If I had more life experience, that would expand my work.

PWCW: Do you have a favorite topic?

Rain: I like real-life stories with some imagination. Every day that we're awake, we dream.

PWCW: What do Chinese comics have to offer that differs from Hong Kong or Taiwan comics—or even from Korean and Japanese comics?

Rain: I think the most simple answer is that our blood is from China. Our background and the way we think, our reaction is very Chinese—even those of us who want to be more Western. Right now our life is more modern, our cities are more Western. But our life is still Chinese. In the U.S, I was always thinking of what made me different. It was important to me, to think about it and to explain the difference in my voice. I don't think we have to make our [art] style intentionally different, but naturally, from the inside, it’s from our background. There’s quite a strong Chinese feeling in my work. I write stories about young Chinese people. I think the world would be interested. I think the difference makes it interesting. People want to know about something different, that someone is thinking the same thing, but differently.

When I was in the U.S., it surprised me that people are so similar. Not in the way they look, but emotionally, it’s the same [as people in China]. You know, American people look stronger, bigger and more open. But inside, they are the same. They are shy, afraid, lonely. From this, I have more confidence in my art. The more I know, the more I feel that people’s emotions are the same. Now I have more confidence to explain myself through my work. I have confidence that people will understand my feelings. I want to help people through my art. I want to make them feel better because they are not alone.

PWCW: What are your plans for the future?

Rain: I will go to France for the Annecy Festival. I'll also connect with some French publishers. I want to do comics in Europe, but I have to learn the rules of the European market. I'd like to explore the North American market, too. I’d like more people to know me and my work. I'd like the world to see Chinese comics and see young people here. We are living. We are thinking. We are writing.