Di Liang is a freelance illustrator and animator based in Tokyo, Japan. She is also a poster designer at PETITREE Gallery. Inspired by automata and Bauhaus ballet, her work conjures figurine-like characters—puppet forms imbued with a pulse of life. These whimsical figures perform in surreal tableaux, each subtly out of step with everyday life. She transforms cultural and historical themes into uncanny, contemporary whimsy through playful visual language.
Her debut short animation, Cut &, has been screened at several international animation festivals. The film serves as a visual thesis on scissors as a metaphor for personal disconnection and doubt—tools that both sever and rebind.
Whether sketching a silent marionette or evoking a world through unfolding blades, her work explores how drawn forms can perform, respond, and resonate—how even the most abstract construct can carry a heartbeat.
Interviews
︎Shoutout LA
︎Canvas Rebel
︎Colossal
2021 - 2023 Maryland Institute College of Art, Illustration Practice MFA | Baltimore, Maryland, USA
2015 - 2018 Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, BA (Hons) Illustration | London, UK
Her debut short animation, Cut &, has been screened at several international animation festivals. The film serves as a visual thesis on scissors as a metaphor for personal disconnection and doubt—tools that both sever and rebind.
Whether sketching a silent marionette or evoking a world through unfolding blades, her work explores how drawn forms can perform, respond, and resonate—how even the most abstract construct can carry a heartbeat.
Interviews
︎Shoutout LA
︎Canvas Rebel
︎Colossal
2021 - 2023 Maryland Institute College of Art, Illustration Practice MFA | Baltimore, Maryland, USA
2015 - 2018 Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, BA (Hons) Illustration | London, UK
Awards
︎︎︎Winner
Communication Arts 2024 Illustration Annual
USA/ Feb, 2024
︎︎︎Longlist
World Illustration Awards
UK/ May, 2023, 2024
︎︎︎Honorable Mention
3 x 3 Magzine
USA/ July, 2023
︎︎︎Illustrators 65 exhibit and book
Society of Illustrators
USA/ Nov, 2022
Screenings
︎︎︎Official Selectionthe Pan-Pacific and Asia Youth Competition
at Hiroshima Animation Season 2024 (HAS) Japan/ Aug, 2024
︎︎︎Official Selection
LA GROTTA DEI PICCOLI Category
in La Guarimba 2024,
made in collaboration with UNICEF ITALIA
Italy/ Aug, 2024
︎︎︎Official Selection
Odds & Ends Experimental Film Festival
USA/ Apr, 2024
︎︎︎Official Selection
MicroActs • Artist Film Screening
London, UK/ Oct, 2023
︎︎︎Official Selection
Seoul Indie-AniFest 2023 ASIA ROAD Selection
Seoul, Korea/ Sep, 2023
︎︎︎Selected Screening
It’s GIFing! Fantoche International
Animation Film Festival
Switzerland/ Sep, 2023