Graphic creator Jubie is the founder of the illustration brand Jubie Wedding, whose painting style is childlike and dreamy, and is loved by people. However, faced with the challenges of the epidemic and her dilemma in life, how did she break through the siege and find a new path for herself?
Text | Emilie
Wu Bingxuan Jubie, graphic creator, is currently a full-time illustrator, illustrator and designer living in Taipei, and the founder of Jubie Wedding Illustration, leading the illustration trend of Taiwan's wedding industry.
Not a painting undergraduate, from stumbling all the way to gradually creating her own fairy tale style and creative philosophy, Jubie continued to add many observations of society and people's hearts to her works, and finally found her own goal and positioning.
She wishes to dedicate her creations to all those who once dreamed of a fearless childhood on a flying magic carpet, magic with elves, and dragon battles.
From a friend's wedding, embark on a life journey of drawing illustrations
Jubie, who has a colorful and soft illustration at home and a smile like a crescent moon, is curious in front of us about such a woman in her thirties who has entered marriage and become a mother, "What did you imagine about your first career more than ten years ago?"
She immediately talked about her dreams as if she had just graduated from college yesterday, "I want to dress very civilized every day, with full of creativity and ideas, bring beautiful illustrations and picture books to the world at Wenqing Cafe, develop a full range of personal brands, and make my works visible on the streets!" ——Oh, but the story is much worse~"
This contrast makes us laugh.
Falling back to reality from a beautiful imagination, Jubie describes her life as an illustrator in her tiny suite in pajamas every day, with no evidence of inspiration, a brush full of fighting spirit and skepticism. Why not go out to a café? Because I don't have the money to buy coffee every day (laughs).
Jubie, who got rid of the childishness of just graduating and the vision of a fresh person in the workplace, and tried to support herself and find the direction of her life by relying on the pen in her hand, ushered in a life opportunity on that day more than ten years ago... Her friend is getting married!
Intimately, she asked, "What do you need help with?" , this sentence became the light of her life, brought her friends a sincere wedding gift, and also brought her a unique career.
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"In order to help my friends draw happy posts, I searched for relevant designs on the Internet, and found that the happy posts in Taiwan at that time were all unchanged big red, dull and uncreative!"
Jubie noticed that there is still a lot of room for the "wedding post", which is necessary in the wedding industry but no one cares about.
She began to search for foreign wedding post styles with curiosity, and unexpectedly opened up a whole new world, and was deeply attracted by a variety of colorful and interesting invitation designs.
Not only that, because of cultural differences, Westerners are more keen to put illustrations on invitations, and even use illustrations to design a series of wedding visuals, while she is intently appreciating the design, she also began to think about whether Taiwanese wedding posts can make illustrations play a role.
So, the snowball of curiosity grew bigger and bigger, and full of action, she picked up the brush and wanted to challenge this new field that no one had explored.
Starting from the invitation of friends, through the sharing and promotion of social platforms, to the self-recommendation on PTT, and the invitation and recommendation of relatives and friends, it began to slowly open the market of illustration happy posts in Taiwan.
After Jubie drew more and more and became more and more experienced, he began to seriously develop the brand, gradually expanding the scope of services from peripheral products, and even began to operate teams, training partners, opening courses, exclusive design services... This is the founding story of Jubie Wedding.
The pandemic disrupted all plans, but it also broke the business framework and discovered other treasures
Women fans at the "GWIS Global Women's Impact Forum" in 2023, encouraging everyone to "break the frame"!
Life is a long way, and we must have encountered many dark moments of confusion and difficulty, so we also want to ask the teacher about the biggest change in his life in his career as an illustrator.
"The epidemic has affected us a lot...," Jubie said calmly, but there were mixed emotions in her eyes of recollection, and she slowly explained to us. The illustration post is mainly based on wedding client cases, and because she insists on drawing by hand, the case is usually scheduled a year ago.
As soon as the couple decides on a wedding date, they have to book it quickly so as not to be lost.
However, the coronavirus pandemic began to break out, the postponement of the wedding postponement, the cancellation of the cancellation, and no one knew what would happen in the future, so the studio's schedule and plans were chaotic.
When the epidemic broke out, there were no cases, and when it slowed down, everyone appeared together to get married, so either there was no job, or the traffic jam and explosion were overwhelmed, and the customers who had already paid could not refuse.
"At that time, it was really like washing three warmths, and the mood went up and down with the number of confirmed people every day." Jubie nodded, palpitating.
"But at that time, in order to make money, we also changed a lot of business models..." She added illustration courses from drawing happy posts, cooperated with other wedding brands, and took on cases outside the wedding, all of which broke her previous business model and the framework she was used to, and made more different attempts.
"I've discovered a lot of things I haven't found before!" Jubie once again deeply experienced how memorable people's interactions are, and heard many touching love stories and was deeply healed.
She took these touches into her heart and became a precious treasure in her career.
However, for a studio with regular employees and fixed expenses, it is also very stressful in the long run under unstable income, so as the boss, she also thinks about letting the brand rest because of the epidemic.
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In the face of external difficult choices, I found that the most important thing to overcome was the inner demons
The repeated epidemic, the instability of income, the commitment and responsibility to employees... all kinds of considerations have made Jubie struggle back and forth between "rest" and "hard support";
Whenever I think about whether to take away the studio, my heart always floats with unwillingness, frustration, disappointment and strong reluctance, and I am reluctant to end the "Jubie Wedding" that I have been running for more than ten years.
"When it comes to customized wedding posts and illustration happy posts in Taiwan, the search is all us, and even many foreign customers come to us specially to make them!" She said proudly, she was worried that these proud experiences, these glorious achievements, would end.
We asked her how she ended up making such a momentous career decision as "ending the studio."
Jubie smiled slightly and brought out her two magic weapons - her husband and daughter.
My husband's patience asked, "What kind of person do you want to be?" , often tirelessly discussing with her, helping her calm her anxiety and aiming for direction;
The daughter is an inspiration muse, allowing her to look at life again, experience growth, discover the energy of love, and also have a great change in the definition of success and how to live this life.
"Every time I think of her, I feel that the whole world is sun-dried sugar, warm and sweet." The motherly version of Jubie also showed a sweet smile.
So, she saw clearly that her reluctance to the studio actually came from her inner fear, and after reorganizing herself, she resolutely ended the studio and drew a comma on her illustration career, perhaps also an end to her wedding industry.
It takes courage to continue, but to end everything, it takes fearlessness.
Jubie developed Taiwan's illustration post industry, and has drawn hundreds of happy posts for newcomers for more than ten years, making the brand the leading position in the industry, she told herself - this is already an easy process, it is actually complete enough, this is also a good story!
"And with this good story, with these experiences and resources, and with a heart willing to share, I think I can do more than just draw pictures and take cases in the future, I can take these stories to go longer and farther, and meet a better fate."
With an open mind like the sky and as clear as spring water, thinking back to the opportunity the pandemic gave her and the respite that full-time parenting life gave her career, Jubie sighed contentedly, feeling that everything was complete.
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Listen genuinely to your inner voice and renew your wish for happiness
Only by having light in the heart and understanding the darkness can life be complete. Digging and sorting out emotions on this road of life can be very uncomfortable, but it is also the only way to see life.
With the advent of the "post-pandemic era", Jubie advises people to pause and readjust the way people get along with each other – start focusing, start refinement, start establishing boundaries, start looking inward.
She believes that human beings need to see themselves and make a space for their inner beings in order to stabilize their hearts and face themselves and bodies sincerely in the era of the pandemic.
"I also did a lot of introspection and reflection during the retreat period, more dialogue with the body, and the acceptance and release of emotions, and I had an unprecedented self-reconciliation."
Just like the teachings of a senior sister, it also implicitly shows the height of the mother, because the process of facing the true self is also an example for the daughter.
Happiness is the positive practice of all kinds of goodness.
When I was young, the girl in front of me said that she wanted to be an illustrator, so she planted it with a momentum and succeeded. Now, with more life experience, she wants to use words to create close to more people.
"I want to be a writer!" This feeling of re-making my wish is like a breath of fresh air, which brings me back to my youth, and makes me feel extremely excited and full of hope for the future."
Jubie said with a smile that this feeling of re-wishing and dreaming again is the best gift for this pandemic break.