A Visual Feast of Fantastic Creatures: An Painter’s Tribute to a Chinese Classic

Fantastic creatures, beasts, and ghosts, people fear, or fascinated, but no one has ever seen the real face. However, there is a post-90s painter, Shan Ze, in his brush, those only appear in the legends and ancient books of the creatures and ghosts are presented one by one.

Since ancient times, Chinese people have been full of unknown and respect for fantastic creatures and spirits, but under the brush of painter Shan Ze, they are completely overturned, with kind of new appearances.

His paintings were nominated for the "Golden Dragon Award" for best illustration, and he has captured a large number of fans by transforming the thoughts of the millennium into paintings.

Shan Ze, his real name is Li Yifan, a young man from Chengdu, graduated from Sichuan University College of Arts. Inheriting the heritage of Chinese style, he dares to challenge the traditional way of painting, forming a unique style that is beautiful and not losing its atmosphere.

Shan Ze's paintings seem to transport the viewer to a whole new world of creatures, which is mesmerizing. In Shan Ze's imagination, the majestic and fearsome door gods of mythology are dressed in splendid battle armor and have a heroic posture.

In "Book of Gods and Strange Things", the eight-foot-long carp-like spirit fish, which turns into a human form at night, turn into a feminine mermaid in his writing.

There are also spirited and lovely jade rabbits in various forms, full of a sense of childlike innocence. In Shan Ze's mind, "As long as your heart is kind, even drawing demons and monsters is beautiful and lovely."

Shan Ze grew up obsessed with myths and legends, and during his college years, he studied demons and ghosts every day, and apart from finishing his studies, he spent all his time on creation.

After graduation, he spent another 3 years studying mythology, went through a large number of ancient documents, and painting for over 10 hours a day, which laid the foundation for his subsequent paintings of fantastic Creatures.

From interpretation to conceptualization, and then to the brushstrokes that form the colors, Shan Ze has put a lot of effort behind each of his stunning paintings.

The tools used by Shan Ze are not complicated, but whenever a new work is completed, Shan Ze will post it on social media, not only with a wonderful and shocking finished picture, but also with line drawings and coloring drawings.

Shan Ze does not focus too much on the painting techniques, but rather on the cultural flavor that the paintings convey. For each character and each creature, Shan Ze has meticulously crafted every detail, from hair to costume, without letting go.

Since the release of his works in 2011, Shan Ze has gained a large number of fans with his beautiful and delicate drawing style and wild imagination.

Shan Ze is more open to the contradiction between efficiency and profit, and he feels more down-to-earth in the process of drawing. "Seriously to do something, whether it can bring benefits or not, I believe that is never considered a loss."

Shan Ze set a goal to paint more than 200 gods and monsters from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and with the utmost devotion, he has done so in his painting collection "Guan Shan Hai".

In "Guan Shan Hai", Shan Ze resurrects demons, gods, and beasts from a thousand years away, depicting a fantasy world that people can hardly peek into with their eyes.

In Shan Ze's eyes, each painting is a heart and a dream precipitated by the collision of brush tip and paper. By sharing them freely, he hopes that this traditional art of Chinese painting style will be enjoyed by more people.

Combining Chinese Chinese painting with Chinese fantastic creatures, and then transmitting them for thousands of years with the brush. Looking at Shan Ze's paintings is like crossing a thousand years, traveling with the ancients to the mountains and the sea, and enjoying the fantasy together.