Shanshan

ANIMATOR & VIDEO ARTIST

Shanshan is an animator and experimental video artist based in Shanghai. She works across 2D animation, video production and visual design, often blending 90s Mandarin pop culture with surreal, otherworldly imagery. A graduate of the Film/Animation/Video department at RISD, she has collaborated with brands such as Disney, Louis Vuitton and Converse China, and musicians including Khalil Fong and Lars Huang. Her work exists in a dreamlike space between memory, media and invention.

JULY 15, 2025

Where are you replying from today, and what’s something small that’s been grounding or entertaining you lately?

I’m currently based in Shanghai, China. I’ve been obsessed with writing since I was a child, and I started writing fan fiction when I was in primary school. Sometimes it’s hard to find audiences that share a common interest in the original works of my writings. Lately I started sharing my newest works to AI’s including ChatGPT and Deepseek. It’s entertaining and oddly satisfying to see them responding to my writings in a literature analysis manner, giving me this illusion that these writings are actually being read carefully. There were a few times that AI understood my text in deeper context than I aimed for when I was writing!

What kind of things shaped your early visual world, childhood cartoons, home objects, music videos?

I’m a huge fan of early 90s mandarin culture. It’s surprising how creative and glorious the visual creations could be earlier in the day. Weird images of spaceships, aliens and murder scenes used in music videos of the most mainstream ballad songs, it was fascinating. Variety TV shows during that era were also an inspiration. The glittery, extravagant plastic decorations and silly jokes created an otherworldly experience in which everyone was, or pretended to be, pure and innocent. There’s an interesting contradiction between happy and unhappy, real and unreal.

You describe your work as a mix of 90s nostalgia and extraterrestrial imagination. Do you remember the first image or story that really sparked that world for you?

My parents (mostly my mom) used to take me to karaoke when I was little. Before I had the ability to search for music myself, the earliest knowledge of “adult songs” were from my mom’s karaoke list, including musicians like Chang Yu-sheng, Chyi Chin, and Phil Chang. Unlike most of my peers that quickly turned to western pop music or k-pop, I fell in love with the melodies, stories, and images of the past.

On the other hand, I started going to an international school when I was 11, and later went to RISD for my college art education. Growing up immersed in a highly modern, international, sometimes experimental environment, I was questioned if it is possible to live in both worlds, and if the fascinations I had in nostalgic experiences can be delivered to my peers in a more modern, artistic form. A lot of my thoughts were expressed through art, especially earlier interactive works before I started working as an animator.

How do your characters come to life, do you sketch first, write, or just start animating and see what happens?

Like Captain America, I’m a person who always has a plan. Most of my works from college grew from writings, whether that’s a novel, a poem, or simply a story plot. Narrative has been a huge part of my creation, and I enjoyed merging my writings and visual art together. However, lately I started experimenting more on mediums, textures, and uncertainties. Sketch an alien creature and start animating. Sometimes letting go of the idea of making everything “complete” and surrender to coincidences bring joyful surprises.

Your animations often feel like they exist in soft loops or dream states. How do you think about time and rhythm when you animate?

I have to admit that there’s not many opportunities for a complete minutes-long animation after I start working as a freelance animator. Most of the time, I can only create small loops or more pattern-based animated segments from work to work. However, I try to challenge myself with possibilities to create a space, a narrative, or an imagination even in such a short presentation. I remember when I was taking a printmaking class in college, I attempted to tell the story of Madama Butterfly in a series of progressive intaglio prints. Even in still images, there are still countless ways of storytelling.

What’s your current animation setup like, what tools or software do you use, and what are you enjoying working with lately?

I got obsessed with tactile, hand-drawn textures this year. A lot of my latest personal animations are done by colored pastels. I also tried riso-printing my animation, which turned out really lovely. As for commercial works, I use After Effects almost in every project. Surprisingly, a huge proportion of commissions are not frame-by-frame animation but compositing. I really enjoy working on that too. It’s a completely different experience than hand-drawn animation. I’d say it feels more like math, except I’m bad at real math. I also use CSP and Procreate to animate.

Do you approach client work differently from your personal projects, or do the two feed each other?

A lot of my clients commission me for After Effects motion work, which is already different from traditional frame-by-frame animations I personally work on this year. However, I try my best to bring my own style, creativity and inspiration into commercial works when there’s opportunity and space to do so. When working with larger brands like Disney and Louis Vuitton, usually they have a strict guide to follow. Indie musicians and small brands more often value my artistic style and accept my design, so it feels more like a collaboration rather than simply a commission.

What kind of mood or feeling do you try to create with sound in your videos? Is sound part of the early process, or something you layer later?

Most of the time I ask friends to create sound or music after I finish my animation, or at least after I have a complete draft. In my earlier works in college, sound design often leaned towards a darker, more mysterious direction, as the visuals were often dark and mythical. Lately my visual language has become brighter and softer, so the sound follows. My boyfriend makes music, so sometimes I use his work as my background music, or ask him to write something that fits. I’ve also made music videos for indie musicians, which was a different process in which music was created prior to visual, and visual serves as a secondary material purposed to emphasize the mood of the song. It’s challenging yet very fascinating as different music can spark new visuals that were originally not in my toolkit.

What have you been collecting or saving lately? Images, gifs, objects, references that might sneak into future work?

I spent a lot of time reading this month, from literary fiction to fanfic. Last month I finished a bunch of commercial projects and wanted to give myself a break, so I started writing fiction again. It’s a very similar experience to drawing/animating. If you pause for too long, the process becomes dry and difficult. So I asked ChatGPT to give me a list of literature that echoes my writing, which I also believe can later inspire my visual art as well. One book I’m currently reading is “The Vulgarly Place” by Li Zishu, telling stories about people in Chinatown of Malaysia. On the other hand, I’m a huge fan of the Archiveofourown website. If you have the persistence and passion to dig through thousands of fan fiction, you will find hidden gems that are surprisingly deep, artistic, and inspiring. Some of my college works were inspired by fan fiction, but I keep that as a secret.

What would your dream animation look or feel like? Something you haven’t made yet, but want to?

I’ve gained so many new insights and perspectives after working as a commercial animator. It’s surprising how I reflect on animation and video as forms of art so much more now than when I was in school. I have plans on starting new experimental animation projects that combine frame-by-frame drawings with human bodies, stop-motion, and set design. I want to create something that’s truly experimental in material, but still conveys key concepts that I’ve always been interested in: nostalgia and cultural memories merged with alien beings and extravagant visual language.

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