69-year-old artist reimagines cartoon characters with traditional Chinese painting techniques, stuns young netizens

Photo shows a portrait of Sun Wukong from the Chinese video game "Black Myth: Wukong", created by Yu Shui, a 69-year-old Chinese artist who has gained online popularity for his unique renditions of popular cartoon characters using traditional Chinese painting techniques. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Yu Shui, a 69-year-old Chinese artist, uses traditional Chinese painting techniques to paint popular cartoon and video game characters, deeply impressing young netizens and garnering over 150,000 followers on the short video-sharing platform Douyin.

The artist, who lives in Beijing, has been painting for over 50 years. He has created over 100 Lianhuanhua, a type of traditional Chinese comic book popular in the 20th century, constituting an important part of many people's cherished childhood memories.

Yu worked as a picture editor at Beijing Evening News, a Beijing-based newspaper, since 1984, and served as the head of the newspaper's art department before retiring from the post in 2015.

He is a member of the China Artists Association and a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. His works have won many awards and have been widely exhibited at home and abroad.

Photo shows a painting of a scene from "Dream of the Red Chamber ", one of the four great Chinese classical novels. The painting is created by a 69-year-old Chinese painter named Yu Shui. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Since retiring in 2015, he has not set aside his paintbrush. "The worst thing for a painter is to stop practicing. Regular practice keeps you on track, just like a basketball player can't shoot accurately if he lacks practice," he said.

Today, the renowned artist is introducing traditional Chinese painting to young people on Chinese short video-sharing platform Douyin, wowing more and more young netizens with innovative renditions of characters they like.

After laying out paper, he often sets up a smartphone nearby to record the painting process, making it easy to edit videos to post on his social media accounts.

Affectionately referring to his young followers as "little friends," Yu has used his expertise in realistic painting and other traditional Chinese painting techniques to reinterpret many cartoon characters popular among young people.

Photo shows a picture of Chinese painter Yu Shui when he was young. Yu is now known for his unique renditions of popular cartoon characters using traditional Chinese painting techniques. (Photo/yangtse.com)

His artworks depicting famous characters like Tushan Honghong, Tushan Rongrong, Tushan Yaya, and Tushan Susu from the well-known Chinese mobile game "Fox Spirit Matchmaker," and Sun Wukong from the hit Chinese video game "Black Myth: Wukong," have been overwhelmed by praise from netizens.

In particular, his video showing the creation of a traditional Chinese painting-style portrait of Tushan Rongrong has received over 271,000 likes and 3 million views on Douyin.

Since opening his personal account on Douyin with the help of an assistant in January 2023, Yu has posted more than 400 short videos online, accumulating more than 157,000 followers, among whom 40 percent are under the age of 23.

Photo shows a painting of Fu Su, the eldest son of Emperor Qinshihuang, created by Chinese painter Yu Shui. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Many followers praise him as a forward-thinking artist, and have made "wishes" in the comment sections of his videos, requesting him to draw their favorite characters.

Creating a drawing of a cartoon character using traditional painting methods presents a completely new challenge for him, Yu said. Despite having rich experience in creating comic books, Yu needs to develop a good understanding of the characters and the works they are from, as there are significant differences between traditional Chinese painting and cartoon creation.

"If I want to draw cartoon characters well, it's not enough to just do the basic research. So, I started watching animated series and finally understood the mission that this character, Tushan Rongrong, carries in the story," Yu said, recalling the process of depicting Tushan Rongrong in traditional Chinese style.

Photo shows Lianhuanhua, a type of traditional Chinese comic book popular in the 20th century, created by Chinese painter Yu Shui. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Excelling not only in traditional painting but also mastering graphic design software, Yu told the Yangtse Evening Post that he plans to continue creating 40 art pieces depicting characters from "Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio," a collection of classical Chinese stories by 17th-century writer Pu Songling, and to complete his 100 half-finished paintings of scenes from "Dream of the Red Chamber", one of the four great Chinese classical novels, in the coming year.

"Many young people perceive traditional Chinese painting as too highbrow to be popular," Yu pointed out, explaining that by reinterpreting popular cartoon characters with traditional Chinese painting techniques, he aims to make traditional Chinese painting more relatable and appealing to a wider audience and attract more young people to traditional Chinese culture.

His goal in sharing his artworks online is not to sell them to young people, but to spark their interest in traditional culture, a mission that brings him great joy, Yu noted.

"As long as they enjoy my works, I will continue to paint," he said.