About
Alina Chau 周曉芬 is an acclaimed author and illustrator. She worked in the animation and gaming industries for a decade, with credits including best-selling games, and most notably the Emmy Award-winning Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.
Alina's unique cultural heritage strongly influences her artistic and storytelling voice. Having grown up in Hong Kong in an Indonesian-Chinese family during the British colonial era, her creative vision is a fusion of diverse cultures. She creates stories inspired by the natural world, which turn childhood daydreams into immersive environments full of distinctive flora and fauna.
Alina has achieved great success in the world of children's literature. Her debut graphic novel, Marshmallow and Jordan, won the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Award and the Sakura Medal for Best Middle-Grade Graphic Novel in Japan for 2023. It has also been chosen for the Read Across America 2022 and the Texas Library Association's 2023 Maverick and Little Maverick Reading Lists. Along with this, Alina has also illustrated several highly acclaimed children's picture books, including The Rise (And Falls) of Jackie Chan, Lunar New Year, and The Nian Monster, which was awarded the 2018 APALA Picture Book Honor. She also developed In the Spirit Of a Dream, a collaborative project, which she illustrated.
She is represented by:
Marietta B. Zacker
Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency
marietta@galltzacker.com
973-761-6358
Animation Represented by
Ellen Ann Mersereau Esq.
FAQ’s
What is your day like?
Did you always know you wanted to be an artist when you grew up?
When I was a little kid, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut and a rocket scientist. I always love to draw, but not considering art a career. I am one of those late bloomers who discovered my career goal in college.
When and why did you decide to switch from animation to illustrating and writing children's books?
Throughout my animation career, I worked on mostly 3D male-oriented titles with male lead characters. In the beginning, it was fun and exciting because it's quite different from my natural style. However, after a few years, I missed expressing myself on paper. I missed drawing. So I started painting and drawing again after work, just for fun. Then one day, my coworker invited me to join the Totoro Forest Project art show at Pixar. That showed me that there was an opportunity for me to explore the gallery scene and to continue to draw and paint. As my paintings garnered attention, I started getting commission inquiries to the point that I could no longer balance my day job at the studio with my personal projects. It was a good problem to have - I eventually quit my day job to focus on an independent career as an artist. After some years of artistic discovery, I realized that children's book publishing is where I could spread my wings as a visual storyteller. Illustrating picture books or writing & illustrating graphic novels for young adults taps into the same reason why I love animation: it's telling stories through pictures.
What is your favorite medium? Why?
Watercolor painting, because it's a dynamic and convenient medium. You can make a fancy elaborate painting or make a cute little quick sketch, or anything in between. The best part of it is that it's very portable. My mini travel set is made out of a mini Altoids box that can fit in my pocket!
What media are you using to make your books?
For most of my books, I sketch and do my thumbnails/storyboards digitally, in Photoshop. I then print out the final sketch on Arches watercolor paper and paint the final art with Winsor and Newton Artist Watercolors.
How long does it take to illustrate a children's picture book?
The early brainstorming and research stage usually takes the most time. Once I have a clear image in my head, physically drawing and painting usually happens at a more steady pace. For example, a page with a big head might take less time to draw than a page with multiple characters. It depends on the size, page count, and complexity of the stories. And on top of that, I usually have more than one project in progress at the same time, so I'm able to bounce back and forth between projects. It's impossible to give a finite number of days or hours since each page of each book is unique!
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists or writers?
Keep drawing and writing. Have fun exploring your style and your voice. Let your imagination soar. Don't be shy about trying something new and different.