About

Hi! My name is Qing Zhuang ("ching juong"). I am an artist living in New York City.

I was born in a coastal province in China, where my mom lovingly nicknamed me “Strange Sea Creature” as a child. I moved to NYC when I was 7 years old.

 I currently specialize in watercolor illustration but experiment artistically whenever I can. I like to sprinkle heart and humor in everything I do.

Fun fact: When I was in 6th grade, I won the citywide children’s version of the Ezra Jack Keats Award and got mentioned in the New York Times! But… they made fun of my name in the article so naturally, I resolved to become a professional illustrator of picture books with my Q without a U Chinese name. I am so grateful to be able to work towards this childhood promise every day!

I earned a B.F.A. in Illustration from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore and a Master of Art in Teaching from School of Visual Arts, New York.

My work has been recognized by Society of Illustrators NY and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators NJ and shown at the Brandywine Museum in Pennsylvania. My debut written-illustrated project, “Rainbow Shopping” was selected as one of NPR’s “Books We Love” and NYPL’s “Best Books of the Year”.

I am agented by Wendi Gu of Sanford Greenburger Associates

I have presented at various venues and institutions including:

Elementary/Middle Schools, book stores, and book festivals

Brandywine Museum, PA

Society of Illustrators, NY

School of Visual Arts

Maryland Institute College of Art

Museum of Chinese in America (Upcoming in 2024)

Interested in buying a print? You can either order from InPrnt, which will handle printing and shipping, or you can email me with a size and picture in mind and I can give you a quote for a print I print, sign and ship personally. Qingthings (at) gmail.com

I will be creating an Etsy page soon, so stay tuned!