Iron Graphic · 2025
Night Tale Illustration
by Wenxu Zhao
- A' Design Award 2025 in Graphic
- CLIENT: Strawberry Fish Girl
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 11,578
- Verification code 994F62F107 · Verify this award
Colors
About Night Tale Illustration
Night Tale is an illustration series that follows the journey of the Strawberry Fish Girl on a summer night. The series blends fantasy and surrealism to present an open ended story. Each scene places the character among large animals, flowers and plants, which serve as metaphors for inner thoughts, goals and curiosity. The illustrations are created digitally at high resolution, so fine details stay clear at large sizes. The work can be shown as prints, as large projections, or as an immersive installation covering the walls of an interior space.
About the A' Design Award
Night Tale Illustration is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Night Tale Illustration is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Night Tale Illustration is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The work is an illustrated series depicting the whimsical journey of Strawberry Fish Girl on a summer night. Blending fantasy and surrealism, it invites viewers into a world where imagination flows freely. Each detail whispers fragments of an open ended tale.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 17x22 inches (each), 600 dpi. Flexible sizing based on medium and usage.
- Tags
- illustration, children's illustration, fantasy, animals, dream world, summer night
- Production Technology
- The illustrations are digitally created using Photoshop and other graphic design software, allowing for high resolution detail and intricate artistry. The original works are large scale, designed to showcase a rich tapestry of fine details when viewed up close or projected onto expansive surfaces.
- Design Challenge
- The challenge is to artfully integrate childlike innocence, fantasy, and mystery into illustrations rich with intricate details, while maintaining a sense of visual unity and storytelling coherence.
- Research
- This project began with the creation of the Strawberry Fish Girl, a whimsical character embodying innocence, mystery, and fantasy. Building upon her image, a series of illustrations were developed, exploring her actions, surroundings, and interactions with her dreamlike environment. Through an introspective creative process, I crafted a narrative that serves as an honest reflection of their inner world, weaving together a story filled with childlike wonder and gentle mystery.
Each illustration carefully incorporates floral elements, plants, and animals, meticulously designed to contribute to the immersive dreamscape. Using digital tools such as Photoshop, the work balances intricate details and visual unity, resulting in a collection that is both technically refined and emotionally resonant. Whether presented as traditional prints, large scale projections, or immersive installations, the series invites viewers to step into a delicate, otherworldly world shaped by imagination and introspection. - Inspiration
- This illustration series draws inspiration from my self reflection and dreams. I’ve visualized my self ego through a mystical, dreamlike world, where the interaction between the Strawberry Fish Girl and large animals becomes a metaphor for my inner landscape. Each animal symbolizes a part of me, my goals, my ideas, and my curiosity, weaving together a tale that bridges imagination and introspection.
- Project Duration
- The work was originally created in 2022, New York City, USA, and revised in 2024, New Jersey, USA.
- Operation Flow
- The illustrations can be showcased as traditional artworks in an exhibition, projected onto large outdoor screens on summer nights, or enveloping all four walls of an expansive indoor space, creating an immersive, dreamlike experience where the audience can step directly into the enchanting world of the paintings.
