Jason Yang's soothing illustrations are a therapeutic escape from day-to-day life

It comes as something of a surprise then to learn that Jason isn't a professional illustrator. "I'm more of a hobbyist who uses illustration as a means of therapy," he tells Creative Boom. If this is Jason as a hobbyist, we'd love to see what he would be capable of as a professional. His illustrations carefully pair vibrant hues with a designer's eye to create engagingly stylised compositions.

Whether they're capturing a flower-strewn foot dipping a toe into a river, a boy with a green pencil being studied by his classmates, or a woman making time for a quick smoke on a sofa, Jason's illustrations capture the little moments in life that are all too easy to overlook.

Jason explains: "I treat the act of illustration as a therapeutic escapade from my day-to-day life. And a recurring theme in my work is that I treat everything as an abstract selfie because the choice of style or palette reflects where I was emotionally at the time of creation, be it a moment or a sustained period."

The bio on his Instagram page adds to this by revealing that "every picture is a self-portrait". With this in mind, it's tempting to read into his pictures of a woman swirling a glass of wine by a bookshelf or a man contemplating whether to throw a paper plane. What was Jason feeling in these moments? And in turn, how do they make you feel as a viewer?

As for his artistic influences, Jason credits his youth. While growing up, he moved a lot and experienced a multitude of cultures, including South Africa, Indonesia, the United States and of course Taiwan. "My creative and stylistic tastes are very nomadic, and this is perhaps because of the constant moving around I've done in my upbringing."