New Talent: Animator and illustrator Yukai Du
In the latest in our series uncovering creative talent on Facebook and Instagram, we speak to Brighton-based animator and illustrator Yukai Du
Yukai Du creates vibrant illustrations and animations. Her distinctive work is filled with bold colours and graphic patterns and is equally well suited to the page and the screen.
Yukai lives in Brighton but hails from Guangzhou, China and studied Character Animation at Central Saint Martins in London.
“Moving to a new country inspired me a lot – London in particular, [because] it’s very different from where I come from,” she explains.
Her graduation film Way Out was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick and explores our reliance on technology with scenes of city dwellers glued to their smartphones:
She is now an art director and animator at creative production studio Bliink and has worked on freelance commissions for Adobe, The New York Times, Estrella and Wired. She recently created a four-minute film for TED to illustrate a narrative that explains our size in relation to the rest of the universe and has also been working on animations for ethical cosmetics brand Lush.
Alongside commissions she continues to develop personal projects: An Anthology is a series of brief animations inspired by anything from poetry to dreams and “nonsense thoughts”.
She is keen to work on projects exploring new technologies and science – “I’d really like to try everything to explore my style and what I can do,” she adds.
New Talent is part of Inspire, a year-long partnership between Creative Review, Facebook and Instagram showcasing outstanding creative work across both platforms. More advice and inspiration for creatives using Facebook and Instagram is available at www.facebook.com/ads/creativehub. You can see more of Yukai Du’s work at yukaidu.com or follow her on Instagram (@yukai_du).