Spotlight on a Magnetic Danmei Fan Artist: Julia
Welcome to a new edition of Danmei Dreams’s artist spotlight, featuring Julia! These spotlights highlight some of the incredible, creative, and cool artists making danmei fan art. The artists will share some of their favorite work, talk about their process and approach, and you can find out how to follow and support them. You can read previous editions of artist spotlights here. Today we’ll be focusing on Julia, a relative newcomer to the danmei fan art scene whose gorgeous pencil drawings capture so much emotion and energy.
Why I Love Julia’s Art
I first came across Julia’s art on Bluesky, and was drawn in by the way in which she used a kind of unique linearity to bring into focus the emotions and connections in her portraits. I noticed she was open for commissions, and so I reached out to her to find out if she might be interested in illustrating a few scenes from Mo Dao Zu Shi for Danmei Dreams. To my delight, not only was she interested, but she produced these gorgeous masterpieces. Every element in them, from the subtle curvature of the tree trunks, to the incredibly fluid water spilling out from the bathtub, beautifully emphasizes the connection between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.
This is a quality Julia clearly brings to all her danmei art–whether it’s a quick sketch or a carefully crafted painting. Every image pulls me in and somehow at the same time leaves me wanting more.
Without further ado, let me introduce Julia!
Meet Julia
Can you introduce yourself and share a little bit about your background as an artist?
Hello, I’m Julia! I’m primarily a traditional portrait artist that does pencil sketches, but I also do gouache paintings, acrylic on canvas, and am currently working to improve my digital art skills! I started the journey of posting my art in 2020, but I have been drawing my whole life.
What was your introduction to danmei?
Towards the end of 2024, I found the donghua for Heaven Official’s Blessing, finished it in two days, and then immediately bought the entire series. I fell in love with the story and the characters, especially Xie Lian, and it quickly became one of my favourite things ever to exist 🙂 I’m currently getting through mxtx’s works (which are amazing 10/10 love them) and then I’m looking forward to further exploring the world of danmei!
How long have you been creating danmei fan art?
Since December of 2024! So about 7 months.
What inspires you to create new works of art?
I get inspired all the time from different media and the emotions they evoke, so you could say that I am inspired by other’s art. The love that I have for my favourite things is what drives me to create. If I like something a lot, I draw it to show my appreciation for it and to also let my feelings for the character or person or show or book all out on the paper. With my Hualian painting, I started that almost right after I finished the series because I was so emotional and filled with so much love for them, and that piece was the product of those feelings.
Creative Process & Style
What is your preferred medium and tools for creating your art, and why?
I am the most comfortable with traditional pencil sketches! I mostly just use one pencil, which is a 0.7 mechanical pencil. I have developed my style a lot with my sketches over the past 5 years, it’s probably the most natural medium for me.
How would you describe your art style? Has it evolved since you started creating danmei fan art?
I’m not sure exactly how to describe my style, but I do want it to have a lot of feeling and life. I think my style also fluctuates a lot with some of its qualities, sometimes it’s messy, sometimes it’s clean or sometimes the line work has more fluidity and sometimes it’s a bit more angular. I think my style has evolved a lot since drawing danmei fan art, largely because there’s an element of character design to it. Before, I used to mostly draw from references of real life people. With danmei, you can create your own version of these characters. I get inspiration from official art and fan artists interpretations and then combine that with how I personally picture the characters. This has allowed me to experiment with my style even more! Also, I love drawing pretty boys and danmei certainly has many of those 🙂
Danmei stories often have deep emotional connections and character development. How do you convey those emotions through your art?
I love to try to convey as much emotion as I can into my art even if it’s just a little sketch. I like to imagine the feelings of the person I’m drawing in that singular moment or just think about them and their personality in general. If I’m using a reference, I try to enhance the feelings that are already there. If I am going off an idea in my mind, I try to incorporate tender touches or wholesome smiles or some sort of motion, even if it’s subtle. I know that for my style one line could make such a difference, especially in facial expressions. But yeah I hope that all comes through in the end product aksjskksk.
What’s next for you as an artist? Do you have any upcoming projects or themes you’re excited to explore?
I’m currently working on a TGCF animation! It’s my first ever attempt at animating and it’s a little rough around the edges, but you gotta start somewhere! I was just super inspired by a cover of a song I found and thought of creating something following Xie Lian/ Hualian’s story. I am going for a very hand drawn look with lots of emotions both sad and happy, so I’m really excited about it!
Appreciation
First of all, let me say I wholeheartedly encourage anyone curious about a commission to reach out to Julia. Working with her was fantastic, and I know I’ll be treasuring the beautiful scenes she illustrated for years to come. Even if you’re not in the market for a commission right now, though, please take the time to support Julia! I’m excited to join her patreon for the NSFW art she shares there, but you can also follow her across social media to see more of what she shares along the way.
