About

Shawn Qi (戚翔宇, b. 1997, Jinan, Shandong, China) is a graphic designer and picture book creator. His creative practice spans wordless picture books, visual narrative, artist’s books, and graphic design.

He received both his undergraduate and graduate education at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. In the later years of his undergraduate studies, he joined the Picture Book Creation Studio, where he continued his research and practice in picture books, visual narrative, and the book as an artistic medium during his graduate studies. During this period, he also studied as an exchange student at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, in the Studio for Design and Narrative Media.

His work primarily takes the form of wordless picture books and artist’s books, exploring how images generate narrative, meaning, and reading experiences in the absence of text. Through the act of looking, turning pages, and reading visual structures, his practice investigates how philosophical reflection can be translated into visual narrative experience.

His original wordless picture book Shadow (《影》) received the Third Prize for Outstanding Graduation Project at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. As an illustrator, he published the picture books The Love Knot (《同心结》) and The Little Sheep Pretends to Be a Tiger (《小羊扮老虎》). As a picture book planning editor, he participated in the publication of several picture books, including Snow Whites (《“百”雪公主》) and I Am Happy Here (《在这里我很开心》). In 2023, Breathe In, Breathe Out (《吸呼》), a picture book for which he served as planning editor and art editor, was awarded The Beauty of Books in China.

He currently works full-time as a graphic designer in Japan, while continuing to develop independent IP projects and artistic experiments alongside his professional practice.