A feast for the eyes

What do you need to create a striking poster for your favorite movie, TV show or cartoon? A piece of paper, a marker pen, a pair of scissors and... a bell pepper? Inspiration struck Li Xiaodong, 39, while preparing dinner during this year's protracted Spring Festival holiday.

He drew several small figures with his marker pen, cut them out and placed them carefully inside a halved bell pepper. Using the torch function of one smartphone to light the scene, he takes the picture with another.

When you see the final, otherworldly image, you would never believe it originated from that curious capsicum composed tableau.

Li, who works as an educational director at a training institution in Beijing focusing on digital art, was supposed to start teaching on Feb 10. However, due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, his whole February was spent at home.

His creative juices started flowing the moment he cut into the freshly purchased fruit and saw that the cavernous innards of the pepper were pretty. Immediately seeing the artistic possibilities he devised a plan to put some tiny paper figures inside. The result turned out to be gorgeous.

Filming the prep, he edited it into a 10-second video of how he created the image and posted it online. It wasn't long before it was being watched and shared by viewers. People simply love watching it.

The viewers' warm response to the photos and videos encourages Li, as he continues to see the magic in more cooking ingredients－a pumpkin, potato chips, sliced bread, as well as plain old flour－found in his kitchen. He has even used other household items, like his broom.

"Whether the ingredients work or not, I'll cook them for dinner," Li says.

One of his most popular efforts was a poster for one of the most popular TV series in China, Journey to the West. The video, which he posted on short video-sharing platform Douyin, known as TikTok overseas, soon received more than 2.5 million likes. It also resulted in the hashtag "You thought he was making food" topping the search list of Chinese micro-blogging platform, Sina Weibo, as it starts with Li pouring flour into a pile, leading users to think they were about to watch yet another cooking demonstration.

Instead, Li painstakingly sculpts the mound of flour into a mountain range before inserting the four main figures into the scene. A torchlight behind a slice of bread acts as the hazy, setting sun. The finished poster looks just like an opening scene from the TV series, depicting the arduous journey of the monk and his disciples, including the Monkey King.

The video looks simple, but it takes Li hours to create.

"I would search for images of the main characters, and listen to the theme song of the classical TV series to find inspiration," Li says, speaking of his working routine.

For him, the drawing is simple, and as photography is his hobby, the only new thing for him is working with paper－h(huán)e is more used to drawing on the computer.

"The drawing only needs a couple minutes, but the cutting out of each figure needs around an hour. Because the characters are actually very small and have many details, such as hair or complex weapons, you need a lot of patience and a steady hand," he says.

The novel coronavirus doesn't stop Li from teaching. He has uploaded several online digital art courses for his students and they are also open to the public for free.

Many people try to imitate Li's work and ask him all kinds of questions, including how to set the light, or how to cut the figure properly.

Li answers them one by one, and even did some livestreaming to teach people step by step.

"Maybe because I'm a teacher, I like to share my skill for this with everyone online," Li says.

Many of his followers upload short videos of their own attempts at creating the posters and ask Li to critique their work, something that has now become part of Li's routine.

"Many people have to work at home or stay at home due to the outbreak, and they are running out of ideas about what they can do. I'm glad this small poster-making project can bring them a little joy," Li says. "The reason I use my phone to take the photo instead of professional camera is that it's easy to handle, and I hope any person interested can try it."

Li has made a dozen posters, and he plans to continue with his new style of creation.

"There are plenty of possibilities yet to try, and viewers online are giving me more inspiration to continue," Li says.

Li used to be a special effects artist before becoming a teacher in 2007.He recalls the first time he taught a lesson, he was too nervous to say much, but just did illustrations on the computer instead.

"It took me a year to get rid of my nerves and, luckily, the students gave me much support and encouragement," Li says. "They could see that I was nervous, but they believed in my knowledge and skills, so they would comfort me with their expressions or with small gifts."

Most of Li's class are college students who want to learn more practical skills in the area of postproduction before they get a job.

"I'm glad to see that all my students are passionate about films and they like making digital art. Seeing some of them take part in the postproduction work of films and TV series gives me a rewarding feeling."

Li has a passion for film, too, and has plans to make some short films.

The question is, however, how will they taste when they're finished?