Featured Artist: Wuhuli

Wuhuli, or M Lee from Malaysia, shares that his ideal setting to create art is when he’s “tucked away in the corner of my house” with acoustic music from the ‘80s and ‘90s playing in the background and the sounds of his family in the other room. Although he is currently focused on digital art, he is also drawn to the sketchbooks and works of “traditional artists” who prefer pen or watercolors; someday, he hopes to find the time to explore this medium as well.

He believes inspiration for art is “a bar you have to fill up like in one of those Sims games” and artists must decide how best to add to their individual creative “bar”. For him, it is helpful to take a step back and “distance yourself from the art” and explore a different project or venture. He also jokes that he would like the ability to “stop time” because “the creativity is in there somewhere, I just need the time to let it flow out.”

Wuhuli confesses that he wants his artwork to “affect people the same way a good dream affects me.” He wants to open up an entire new world for his audience or evoke feelings of nostalgia and long-lost memories that bring “a smile to your face.”

M Lee jokes that he would love to sit down in a cantina on “a space station somewhere in a corner of the universe (think Babylon 5 or Deep Space Nine )” because of the diverse people and stories he’d be able to witness there. In fact, his greatest hope is that his art encourages people to embrace diversity and reminds them “what we could achieve without such discrimination.”

However, — most importantly — Wuhuli reminds artists not to give up on themselves. He says, “if you start drawing and it looks bad, the main reason is because it isn’t finished.” He believes anything is possible if you just keep trying.