Young woman showcases China's ancient Hanfu culture with mineral pigment paintings

Lian Yang, whose English name is Lotulist, has recently amazed numerous netizens with a video clip recording her creative process for a painting made with mineral pigments that showcases the unique beauty of Hanfu, a kind of traditional type of Chinese clothing.

Lotulist's painting showcases the unique beauty of Hanfu. (Photo/yangtse.com)

According to the video, the painting Lotulist worked on focuses on eight young women dressed in exquisite Hanfu of various colors and styles. The video has been well-received among netizens, with its playback volume on the Internet reaching 24 million.

Lotulist spent 72 days drawing the painting integrating both traditional and modern cultures. Instead of deliberately painting the image of ancient women, she made the female look more like youngsters from modern times. In this way, when putting on Hanfu, they display both the unique taste of ancient murals as well as that of modern aesthetics.

Graduating from the China Central academy of Fine Arts, Lotulist also enjoys studying traditional Chinese medicine, reading classic Chinese novels and appreciating Chinese pottery and ceramics in her spare time. Before becoming a painter of mineral pigments, she already garnered a good reputation in the fields of computer-based painting as well as ink and wash painting.

Details of Lotulist's painting. (Photo/yangtse.com)

“The richness of colors presented with mineral pigments cannot be found in Chinese traditional paintings, whereas the mysteries of mineral pigments are what oil paintings lack,” Lotulist introduced.

In order to better her painting skills, she travelled to Japan for five years for the study of Nihonga painting. Afterwards, she also set off to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Gansu Province doing research related to traditional Chinese painting art in ancient times.

Lotulist's efforts in honing her mineral pigment painting skills gradually paid off – she was offered an increasing volume of opportunities for commercial cooperation. For instance, she was once invited to draw a cover for the famous Chinese Internet novel titled "Daomu Biji" and created a poster for a famed character in the mobile video game Honor of Kings, with the latter even being adopted by the Guimet Asian Arts Museum of the French National Museum Alliance for inclusion in their collection.

Photo shows Lotulist painting. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Lotulist hopes that mineral pigment paintings can be further promoted along with other intangible cultural heritages, such as Hanfu.

“The main reason why I continue to cooperate with different commercial companies is that I want this style of art to be accessible to more people,” explained Lotulist, who also launched courses on mineral pigment paintings, filling up a specific gap in the domestic art market. 

One of Lotulist's paintings. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Photo shows Lotulist painting. (Photo/yangtse.com)