Yutong
Liu
Illustrator | Animator | Graphic Designer
Yutong Liu is an award-winning illustrator from China, now based in London as a freelance creative. She earned her MA (Distinction) in Illustration from Kingston School of Art in 2024, and her work has appeared in numerous publications and advertising campaigns for clients including The Orion Publishing Group Ltd, Ascend Design, The Alan Turing Institute × University of Edinburgh, Better Images of AI, HiShark Edu, and more. Her illustrations have been recognised by prestigious awards and exhibitions such as the World Illustration Awards (WIA), 3×3 International Illustration Awards, Applied Arts Illustration Awards, ING Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary, Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), China Illustration Annual Conference (CIAC), the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, and Hiii Illustration Award. Guided by her creative philosophy—“With eyes wide open and heart unveiled—feel life, record its pulse, and embrace its wild beauty”—Yutong’s work captures moments that are both poetic and profoundly human.
2025
- World Illustration Awards — Animation Category, Longlisted
- 3x3 International Illustration Annual No.22 — Animation, Merit
- ING Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary — Runner-up Prize
- BIBF International Illustration Awards — Book Cover, Finalist
- CIAC National Illustration Support Program — Dynamic Illustration Award (China)
- Applied Arts Illustration Awards 2025 — Young Blood, Motion - Animation
- Open Competition to Create More Realistic Stock Images of “Digital Transformation at Work” — Grand Prize
- May Fourth Youth Art Exhibition — Third Prize for Me & Tree No.1 and Me & Tree No.2, organised by the Hong Kong People's Association of Fine Arts
2024
- Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize — Shortlisted
- Beta Festival — Selected
- CIB9 (China International Illustration Biennale) — Finalist
2023
- Hiii Illustration International Awards 10th Edition — Finalist
- CHEAD Student Poster Competition — The Best Winner
- Creative Conscience Awards — Shortlisted
2022
- H.C. Andersen Art Awards (International) — Silver Award
- CGDA Visual Communication Design Awards — Finalist
2025
- ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2025 — Mall Galleries, London, United Kingdom
- Characters on the Road — PICTOPLASMA × Balkans, Varna, Bulgaria
- BIBF Illustration Exhibition — Beijing International Book Fair, Beijing, China
- May Fourth Youth Art Exhibition — Hosted by Hong Kong People's Artists Association (Online)
- Art Collide: Emerging Artists 2025 Exhibition — International Online Showcase
- Bay Area New Direction: Guangdong International Art Week — Guangzhou Nan Fung International Convention Centre, Guangzhou, China
- Glorious Chang’an: National Security Education Day Exhibition — Excellent Works from Greater Bay Area Illustration & Animation, City Hall Exhibition Hall, Hong Kong
- Endless Growth: GAS Illustration Art Season Exhibition — Guangzhou People's Art Centre, China
2024–2025
- Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Touring Exhibition — Multiple venues, United Kingdom
2024
- The Bigger Picture — Beta Festival, Dublin & Cork, Ireland
PRESS / MEDIA / INTERVIEWS
2025
2025 All Rights Reserved ©️ Yutong Liu
Animated Illustration
This piece is part of my exploration of my own emotional landscape.
As a female artist, I seek to express the inner world of women — a space where tenderness and strength coexist.
Through these reflections and expressions, I aim to portray moments of striving for self-reconciliation, gentle yet powerful in their quiet resilience.
My eyes have already closed, yet my thoughts refuse to grow still.
The fire within me continues to burn, and my mind slips free of my body, wandering through time and the vastness of the cosmos.
Back and forth it drifts, ceaseless, unending.
Animated Illustration
This piece is part of my exploration of my own emotional landscape.
As a female artist, I seek to express the inner world of women — a space where tenderness and strength coexist.
Through these reflections and expressions, I aim to portray moments of striving for self-reconciliation, gentle yet powerful in their quiet resilience.
Let it be, what more can I do?
If only I could swing into space,
And leave this earthly place.
- Bewildered
Animated Illustration
This piece is part of my exploration of my own emotional landscape.
As a female artist, I seek to express the inner world of women — a space where tenderness and strength coexist.
Through these reflections and expressions, I aim to portray moments of striving for self-reconciliation, gentle yet powerful in their quiet resilience.
I have paced back and forth countless times, yet nothing could ease the restlessness and unease that gnawed at my heart.
The fire blazed within me, and the wind could not quench its fury — it only fed the flame.
It was as though my spinning thoughts were consuming the last reserves of my being.
I longed to escape, yet I could never break free from this snare.
I returned again, turned back again — an endless cycle, restless and adrift.
- ME & Me
- Animation
I created this short
animation to explore my relationship with myself. By capturing five repetitive moments from my daily life, I illustrate how I find joy in small variations within routines. Through this process, I engage in self-reflection and discover new ways to connect with myself.
📣 WIA Award Coverage
3x3 Award Coverage
- The Original Daughter
Book Cover
In collaboration with The Orion Publishing Group Ltd, I illustrated the new cover for The Original Daughter by Singaporean author Jemimah Wei. The novel was officially released in June 2025 in Singapore and the UK.
- Dancing with Light
- Apple x Battersea Power Station
- 2025
- Commercial Illustration
This is Your Tree on Battersea, a project jointly initiated by Apple and Battersea Power Station. I created the 2025 Christmas tree for the event, titled Dancing with Light, for Christmas is a moment that calls us to dance—to sway with the starlight, the candle glow, and the radiance within our hearts. On this holy night, amid hymns of peace, the constellations twinkle for us, and flames dance gracefully in our honour. We celebrate and rejoice, embracing this beautiful season with fervent warmth, while making the most heartfelt wishes for the coming year.
- Digital Nomads
- 2025
- Editorial Illustration
These editorial illustrations are created in response to the theme Changing Employment Contracts and Working Conditions proposed by Better Images of AI and the ESRC Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit). It depicts how digital nomads break away from traditional office spaces, embracing a new way of working in nature. The work reflects how advancements in digital technology have diversified career choices and made work environments more flexible and free.
📣
Award Coverage
- Doing AI Differently
- 2025
- Editorial Illustration
A series of editorial illustrations commissioned for a white paper co-authored by the University of Edinburgh and The Alan Turing Institute, each visualising a key concept through metaphor and visual storytelling.
📖
- Ascend Design Website
- 2025
- Animation & Advertising
This commercial project is a collaboration with interior design studio Ascend Design (Singapore). I created two animations and two illustrations to help build a playful and engaging atmosphere on their website. Through this visual approach, we aimed to encourage users to explore the site and foster a sense of community that invites clients to become part of it.