This artist’s stunning character illustrations blend personal influences with utopian fantasy

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Based in France, Jessica Liu is a self-taught freelance artist who specialises in illustrations and character art. She tends to work in Procreate and Clip Studio Paint (both of which feature in our guide to the best digital art software), and her work is often fantasy themed.

With a particular focus on shape and colour, her work looks spectacular while also telling a story. We invited her to talk us through five of her favourite pieces of work. For more inspiration, see our bumper feature on digital artists.

Faith (above) is an illustration that Jessica was commissioned by an RPG game master. Jessica describes her as a “powerful symbol of strict justice and revenge who once was a human that was betrayed by all of her loved ones.”

The Fairy and the Tiger explores more personal influences. “I’m the daughter of two Chinese parents, so have always had huge Asian influences,” Jessica says. “Here I wanted to show my fascination with those Asian aesthetics, in particular the tiger, which is my lunar zodiac sign.”

Of this piece, titled Solarpunk – Harmonie, Jessica says: “I aimed to convey peaceful happiness in a perfect world where technology grew without destroying nature, and where the humans and animals can all live together in perfect harmony.”

This was another commission, in this case for a VTuber named Sinabon. “I love the dynamic angle I went for with this piece,” Jessica says. “Commissions have made me improve the most over the years, so these artworks are important to me.”

Finally, Pandemonium – Frénésie was made for an art contest. The piece was inspired by Joseph Tomanek’s masterpiece Fire Dance. “I wanted this artwork to feel powerful with a sense of madness, as if the dancers are offering their soul to the demon they’re summoning,” Jessica explains.

You can see more of Jessica’s work on her website.

This content originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine, the world’s leading digital art and fantasy art magazine. ImagineFX is on sale in the UK, Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and more. Limited numbers of ImagineFX print editions are available for delivery from our online store (the shipping costs are included in all prices).