The Artist Behind Rainbow Draws, Blending Global Inspiration and Creative Experimentation

Originally from Shanghai and now based in Liverpool, Yufei Yang is the creative force behind the illustration practice Rainbow Draws. While it might be easy to say she fuses the creative traditions of East and West, that would barely scratch the surface of her ideas, inspiration, and approach. Yufei is an artist whose work explores every corner of the globe—travel, culture, and human connection are what drive her most.

“I’m inspired by the things I see in the world when I travel to new places,” she says. “I’m always curious to learn about a new culture. People, plants, animals, buildings, food—everything unique to a place always catches my eye. In a different city or country, you notice different colors, fonts, decorative elements, and so on.”

Her aesthetic draws on a fascinating mix of influences—think the Bauhaus movement, Pablo Picasso, Sophy Hollington, David Hockney, and Philip Guston, to name just a few. But at its core, Yufei’s work is all about experimentation: she plays with bold cut-out shapes to craft dramatic compositions, hones limited color palettes to evoke emotion, and adds texture through paper grains, scribbles, scratches, and splatters.

Words also play a key role in her creative process. “I start by breaking down and simplifying information,” she explains. “I pick just a few aspects I love, jot down why they resonate with me, and then start building my piece. I often ask close friends and colleagues for feedback—I like when the creative process feels like a conversation sometimes.”

She rarely creates just one piece; instead, she explores her subject through a series of images, which helps her figure out where to focus the emphasis. This approach has shaped her technique over the years. When it comes to drawing people, she sketches them as she sees them—not as a camera captures them—exaggerating certain features based on her first impressions.

Every image starts in the real world, with loose pencil sketches for the concept. She develops the shapes and composition in Procreate, then uses Photoshop and Affinity to put the finishing touches on the artwork. “The scribbles, scratches, and splatters come from my printmaking experiments when I was studying for my MA in Children’s Book Illustration,” she says. “I love the flexibility of digital illustration and the imperfection of traditional media—combining them feels like the best of both worlds.”

Yufei’s love of travel has made Rainbow Draws synonymous with travel illustration, landing her commissions from clients all over the world. One of her favorite recent projects is a series for Condé Nast Traveller, illustrating the biggest travel trends of 2026—work that drew heavily on her own travel experiences.

“I often weave in elements from my own happy travel memories,” she says. “I added simple animations to these illustrations for digital use, which was such a fun challenge. I especially loved animating the little fish flag in the Japanese grocery travel trend—it brought the whole piece to life.”

Currently, Yufei is working on a project for National Museums Liverpool, which will be on display at the Albert Dock. It’s a chance for her work to shine in a public space, accessible to both locals and tourists. This year, she also set herself a personal challenge: creating illustration cards to sell at markets and shops, printing a one-of-a-kind set for Christmas 2025. And she’s continued to grow professionally, adding animation skills to her toolkit.

To wrap up, we asked Yufei to share one thing no one knows about her art. “I have a huge collection of house plants,” she laughs. “If you see plants in my illustrations, chances are they’re drawings of the real ones that surround me at home. That little detail might go unnoticed, but it makes me happy to include them.”