Oliver Li's warm and tactile illustrations convey his love of nature and the cosmos

Oliver Li is a young artist who's making waves, both literally and metaphorically. His illustrations are characterised by vibrant colours, often featuring blue and green, and a unique fuzzy texture that evokes a warm, tactile feel.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Plymouth with a first-class degree in Illustration, his work was selected by industry-leading judges as one of the winning portfolios in D&AD's New Blood competition, from over 800 entries.

Oliver didn't grow up with an art education background, though, and it wasn't until high school that he really got into painting.

"I was always aware of illustration as a category of art, but I became interested in illustration because of an illustration book called 'Kaleidoscope: The Art of Illustrative Storytelling'," he recalls. "I remember being deeply attracted to each illustrator's work because of how interesting and vibrant it was and how their styles were completely different. I decided in my mind that I wanted to be an illustrator in the future."

When he chose his university major, he opted for illustration without hesitation. "As a newcomer to the field, I tried many different methods: as oil painting, watercolour, acrylic, digital illustration and so on," he says. "I spent half of my university time experimenting with different styles and media. Only in my last year did I decide that digital painting would be my primary medium."

Move from China

Originally from Shanghai, China, Oliver boldly decided to move to the UK for his studies, and he describes it as one of the best decisions he ever made.

"I'm not that interested in big cities, and so a coastal city like Plymouth was just right for me," he explains. "As I lived only five or six minutes away from the sea, my favourite thing to do was to go for a walk on the coast after lectures. I'd often walk aimlessly along the coastline and then, if the tide wasn't high, find a reef on which to sit and think about illustration and what to eat. This environment gave me a lot of inspiration."

As you can see from his work, nature is Oliver's primary source of inspiration. "I've been a nature lover since I was a kid," he explains. I grew up in Shanghai, which is a very urbanised city. But luckily, where I lived, I was surrounded by a forest.

"My favourite thing to do as a kid was to go and play in the forest alone until dark… which I now realise is actually a very dangerous thing to do," he recalls. "But thankfully, nothing bad happened to me. I'd often going to look at new mushroom growth after it rained, as well as picking up leaves of different shapes and pinning them in books."

Alongside these childhood experiences, Oliver is also influenced by the wider cosmos. "I think the universe is part of nature," he reasons, "and so I enjoy exploring the unknown with illustrations and creativity. I'm super excited to see where this theme takes me."

Distinctive style

Oliver's distinctive style, with its warm, tactile feel and bright colours, is essentially a combination of various influences and techniques. "My work is influenced by many vintage posters and riso printing," he reveals. "I love the subtle little imperfections in prints and the feel of different papers."

Although the illustrations we share here are digital drawings, they're imbued with deep and complex textures. "If you open up my layers, you'll see that I'll have over a hundred of them," he says. "Many of these layers are where I insert various textures and brush traces. I often photograph various paper materials and insert them into my illustrations."

What about colour? "I think it's up to me and my intuition," he responds. "I don't really have a fixed palette. I've always preferred bright colours: I think they represent energy, passion and movement."

Creative Process

Oliver's creative process is best explained through his work on a local organisation's recipe book. "The project lasted six months: a very short time for publishing a book," he recalls. "In the early stages, our team had online or offline meetings with the clients almost every week. I did a lot of research initially, identified topics with the client, and so on."

Eventually, they settled on dividing the recipe book into seasons, so each season would require a cover and four or five food illustrations. "There wasn't really much time left for me to create the illustrations," he says. The finished drafts had to be agreed upon within the group and then sent to the client for their feedback.

"During that time, I worked on various drafts almost every day. I've never drawn so many vegetables in my life! My understanding of the project was that it was a recipe book for young and old, so I wanted to connect the different people through the illustrations and bring in the themes that I specialise in.

"I'm glad my client respected my ideas and gave me a lot of creative freedom," he adds. "But they provided useful input, too. For example, the client told me to remove the mushrooms from the summer cover illustration because they weren't in season and to replace the grapes with apples on the autumn cover because they were more available."

Future Plans

Oliver's passion for editorial illustration is evident, and he says he'd love to receive a commission for a nonfiction picture book. "I'd like to make my illustrations educational and attractive at the same time, so that I can make boring scientific knowledge more interesting," he says.

As Oliver continues to evolve as an artist, he's setting his sights on new horizons. "I'd like to move towards animation as well as moving images next," he says. "It's something I haven't tried before. I want to explore the relationship between health and nature. So aside from editorial and published illustrations, I'd love to receive offers to work with lifestyle and skincare brands."

As a recent graduate who has already achieved significant recognition, he offers this advice to those who are earlier in their careers: "Meet as many people in the creative industry as you can," he stresses. Don't be afraid to reach out to people, either by DM'ing them on social media or messaging them on LinkedIn. Most of them are friendly and willing to help you out."