Wacom Community: How did you get to know each other? And why did you decide to set up a website/company together instead of going solo?

Jingna: I'd been hanging around CG circles for 5 years or so, digital art fascinated me. Hong and I met 4 years ago via a private CG forum. Having seen his works before I decided to say hi and started chatting. We later met up when I visited Shanghai, where he was located then.

I was a student with too much free minutes to spare on the internet, and he was busy trying to juggle between his job and freelance, so I offered to set up a simple gallery under my domain since I had a lot of extra space and time. Because he wasn't proficient in English, I started helping out with foreign emails that started coming in and eventually managing his works. Slowly it just became routine even though he could understand most things pretty well now.

Hong: 2003 年后期，通过在国际论坛的交流，认识了 Jingna ，那时候她只是一个 CG 爱好者，但是很聊得来，于是成了朋友。 我英语并不太好，所有后来有委托她给我翻译一些东西，而且她也有自己个人的网站，于是慢慢把 www.zemotion.net 改革成为我们一起的网址，以便于统一管理，她加入摄影圈时间不长，但是进步之快却让人吃惊。

In late 2003, I met Jingna through an international forum. At the time, she was an amateur CG artist, but would often chat with me, so we became good friends. My English is not too good, and I often trusted her to help me translate. Moreover, she also had an individual website, so we slowly changed www.zemotion.net into a website which we share. The setup is very advantageous for worldwide management. She has only just started to step into the photography arena, but her progress is startling!

Wacom Community: What is the hardest part about starting your career as an artist? How has working together helped?

Jingna: I think getting enough work and knowing people, and of course rejection hurts but it's unavoidable. Since I started managing for Hong a few years before I started photography, I wasn't totally foreign to these.

In photography you need a good and strong team, and it really takes time (and luck) to build one. I have studied both fashion design and makeup before, so it helps in the sense I know what I want and what works when I started. But being the photographer isn't just pushing a button, I need to focus because I need to constantly think about the picture. It's fine for a personal shoot actually, but on a job if I don't have a team on set then I'd have to also worry about all other logistics, arranging clothes on the model, touching up the makeup, finessing the set, with time constraints and other demands it'd go quite crazy. I guess this makes it more difficult than Hong's case in the sense that for him it's pretty much all dependable on himself to just have a strong portfolio and blow people away.

Maybe it's one sided, but I think we both inspired each other at one point of time or another working together. Perhaps nothing direct that even shows up in our creations, but surely there's influence in my thinking and mentality. Constant encouragements and critiques from each other helps in working harder, the close working relationship also allows us to learn from jobs together even if I am just handling the briefing sometimes.

Hong: 我想是可能是环境的制约，那时候 CG 业界处于初始化状态，所以从事这个行业的人很少，坚持下来的人更少，特别是技术的提高，是非常难的，由于国内缺乏系统的专业指导，所以一切都靠自己去摸索，当然最开始加入行业，待遇也很低，都想，这都是很难的部分了。

跟晶娜的意思差不多？还有因为她管理大部分的东西我可以专心画画。

It may be just my own work conditions, but at the time, the CG industry was just beginning (in China) so there were very few people active in the industry and even fewer were sticking it out. It was especially difficult to increase our skills and there weren't enough instructors so we had to explore everything ourselves. And when we finally started penetrating the industry, the reception was very cool. All of it was difficult in the beginning.

(About working together) I pretty much agree with Jingna. However, because she has helped me so much with managing my work, I was able to wholeheartedly devote myself to painting.

Wacom Community: How much do online communities help?

Jingna: If you're new it helps you grow, if you're good it's good publicity, but either ways it allows you to meet new people. Hong and I have both been receiving commissions via online communities in the past years.

Hong: online communities 一直都提供 CG 作者交流的平台，对于技术的提高和交流是非常必要的，由于 CG 是电脑的产物，而互联网则是电脑之间进行交流的最直接平台， online communities 同时给你一个展示的平台，让更多的人找到委托和工作，同时，你在这些地方得到肯定，也会给你继续画下去的信心和力量。

Online communities have always given CG artists a platform for communication. The communication allowed by these communities has helped artists to improve their skill. Because CG art is created on computers and the internet is platform that connects computers, online communities simultaneously give artists a platform to exhibit their work and helps us find work. Furthermore, through the affirmation that you receive from your peers, you gain the confidence to continue pursuing your art.

Wacom Community: If you could have dinner with any artist, who would you have dinner with? (and what food of course!)

Jingna: It'd be a difficult choice if it's only one... I think Yoshitaka Amano would be nice. Although I have no idea what we would talk about, hmm. Maybe I will ask Amano-sensei if he would collaborate with me one day. Haha. I'd like Japanese or Korean food, although really I like generally all Asian food.

Hong: BROM? 我很喜欢他的作品，选择， Chinese food ，因为它是世界上最美味和最多花样的菜系，绝对适合喜欢尝鲜的艺术家们。

BROM (science fiction/fantasy painter)? I love his work. As for my choice of food, I will pick Chinese food, because it is the world's most delicious and varied cuisine, it is definitely the choice for artists who love something different.