Fighting for jobs, looking for love and keeping awake during class are just some of the slice of student life comics created by Huang Jiajia, whose simple pen and ink pieces are attracting lots of attention.

As of yesterday, the 24-year-old industrial design senior's comic series We Are ALL Little Young People garnered more than 820,000 clicks within a month, according to China news portal qq.com.

"At first, I was so excited to see I got so many hits," explained Huang, "But I realize that I can't just be satisfied with that, but have to keep on improving myself."

With titles such as Our Love, There's Still a Lot of Growing Up To Do and Who Says We Have to Sit for Exams, the industrial design senior at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei Province attempts to capture the essence of college life within a few frames.

"I hope they embody the feelings of others my age," she said.

"The fight turns you from a common student into a warrior armed to the teeth."Illustrations: Courtesy of Huang Jiajia
 

Artistic roots

Born in Xiangfan, Hubei Province, Huang was introduced to art by her mother, an art teacher at a local primary school, at the early age of four.

Dabbling in both traditional Chinese and Western paintings, Huang later found her passion lies in comic art and animation. Her first attempts at drawing cartoons were copying Doraemon, the famous magical robot cat by Japanese artist Fujiko Fujio.

"At that time, I would just draw and dream my Doraemon could make ice cream magi-cally appear for me," she said.

However, Huang names Japanese manga artist Miyazaki Hayao as her greatest influ-ence.

"He has a really warm style, really refined and fluid," Huang explains. "I was influenced by his beautiful use of color."

"Seeing this many people makes you realize your four years at college was preparing you to fight."Illustrations: Courtesy of Huang Jiajia

Japanimae vs Chinamation

Though Japanese animation still dominates the Chinese market, Chinese artists are gaining ground.

Huang cites notables such as Wu Guanying, co-creator of the Fuwa (Beijing Olympic Games mascots), Yao Feila, founder of SUMMERZOO (influential animation studio) and Weng Ziyang, who is regarded as a master of "ink and wash" computer graphics.

According to Huang, it is just a matter of time before China catches up.

"Japanese animation has been comparatively mature for many years, while China got a late start and is still in the developing stages," Huang said.

"Chinese animation is still strongly influenced by Japanese styles, but it doesn't mean that Chinese animators are not as good. We have had some great artists to come out recently, such as Xia Da."

Xia, a 29-year-old creator of Zi Bu Yu (Confucius Didn't Say), broke into the Japanese market when her work caught the eye of Shigeki Yukio, chief editor of Shueisha, one of biggest manga publishing houses in Japan, as well as manga artist Matsui Eimoto.

"Like life, comics are interesting because they come in different styles," she said.

Although Huang says she didn't apply for art school nor is considering it a career, she still keeps creating in her spare time, pumping out around 30 cartoons a month.

"Cartoons are closer to life and reality to me," explains Huang, "Drawing them makes me happy and has been a big part of my life."