Jiayue Li
Oil-based colored pencils, thick porous paper, and a fluffy white feline companion named Milky surround Jiayue Li as she brings her ideas to life in her San Francisco-based studio.
On the tram ride home from work, she shuffles between designs in her mind, sometimes inspired by as little as a single word. Once home, she allows the thoughts to simmer as she unwinds while cooking. After eating, on a calming walk, the ideas stroll alongside her, eventually coming to fruition in their own time—often over the course of multiple days.
By the time her pencil meets paper, the incubated concepts—now merged with her experiences— are ready to be tested through experimental sketches until Li finds exactly the right composition. From the outside, she makes it all look effortless, illustrating with graceful conviction. But behind the scenes, her visual recipe is actually quite intricate.
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Talented beyond measure, Jiayue’s art has gained an adoring following who eagerly await her every piece, each an opportunity to peer into her beautiful mind. Her work speaks to the multifaceted experience of living life as a female, a journey she expresses with great delicacy and care. Inspired by her art teacher at a very young age, Jiayue has trained her skills extensively across disciplines, over the course of a lifetime; she absolutely loves to create, and we love to marvel at the organic compositions that strike a deeply relatable chord.
Other Commissions by Jiayue
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The New York Times Magazine: The strange comfort of jet lag
LA Times: I used to sober-drink water. How the new non-alcholic cocktail wave let me join the party
The New Yorker: Has self-awareness gone too far in fiction?
Vogue Singapore (left): The new social contract
A quick glance at her prints is all it takes for circular forms to begin to swirl before our very eyes, gently reflecting back some of our deepest emotions.
One can clearly see oneself represented in the stream of consciousness emanating from the subjects spread out in front of them: a cast that captures feelings of both sadness and hope, as if offering a way to maneuver and break free from life’s complexities.
Jiayue’s compositions bring together an ensemble of different identities, their faces saturated with colorful life, yet intentionally cropped at the edges, implying that there’s more to the story than the visible borders of the prints. Her account of womanhood extends far past the squares in which her prints are situated, suggesting a vast network of community beyond what meets the eye.
From left to right: Horizon, Decay and Colony by Jiayue Li for Sidedish Projects
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As we lose ourselves in the soothing blues and greens within the dreamlike shapes, we notice the stoic gazes of the subjects, and we feel understood—invited to find a comfortable place among the peaceful white spaces between faces, and the warm, watermelon-colored pastel smudges on the page.
The soft texture of Li’s oil based pencils allows us space to breathe as we meditate on moments when life perhaps felt overwhelming—gently encouraging us to let go. We continue to flow past the saturated surface, drawn deeper into the grain paper, feeling a sense of calm, connected to the solidarity of Jiayue’s work.
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It’s no mystery why we were ecstatic here at Sidedish to work with such a genuine collaborator as Jiayue Li. We really wanted to create prints that honored Jiayue’s multicultural background while staying true to themes of family and femininity Jiayue holds close to heart.
Originally from Chengdu, China, her family back home, along with her heritage, is of great value to her, and it’s precisely this diverse upbringing that has led her down a path of creation that authentically displays the flow of feelings within the female community.
Oh, and of course, credit is given where credit is due: Jiayue’s sidekick, Milky, is an unbelievably adorable little marshmallow of an animal and an undeniable source of inspiration and support. It doesn’t take a cat lover to acknowledge the role Milky plays in nurturing Jiayue with his presence while she spends quality time contemplating her art.
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View Jiayue’s Illustration series below or view more via her website and instagram:
