Growing up in China, Calvin Liang was ordered to work on a farm after graduating from high school, but he kept up his obvious talent for drawing and painting. He later worked painting sets at the Canton Opera and then studied at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. In 1987, he left China for San Francisco, where he took on menial jobs and saved enough money to buy oil paints and other supplies. He also painted cartoons for Marine World and worked as a sidewalk portraitist. He joined the Artist Guild of San Francisco and exhibited with them.

In 1997, he moved to Los Angeles and worked at the animation studios of Disney and then Nickelodeon. His animation credits include “The Little Mermaid,” “Cinderella Stories,” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

He is a member of the Plein-Air Painters Association, the California Art Club, the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and the Oil Painters of America. Liang’s awards include the Oil Painters of America Award of Excellence, first place at the Golden Years exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, and Best of Show at the American Impressionist Society National Juried Exhibition.

Sources: American Artist (February 2002); Art of the West (November/December 2003).