SHOWCASE

/ ARTIST / 2026

ARTIST: Frooozenfish
COUNTRY: China
CONTACT: https://frooozenfish.com/
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frooozenfish_art https://www.instagram.com/frooozenfish_art/?hl=en
https://xhslink.com/m/6SRyYxNDYYc
Hi! I’m Yiru Pan, and I go by Frooozenfish across all platforms. I’m a freelance illustrator, comic artist, and watercolor artist based in Shanghai. I graduated in 2026 from the MFA Illustration Practice program at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

I often think of myself as a little witch who practices watercolor magic ✨ My work explores emotions and inner worlds through illustration and visual storytelling.

I have an original character named Rubelis, and I’m continuously developing her universe as an ongoing world-building project. Through Rubelis, I explore themes of memory, emotion, transformation, and the invisible traces people leave behind.

Rubelis — The Garden of Growing Emotions

With her magic, Rubelis shaped four distinct realms. Within the Garden, countless plants flourish, each born from a different emotion.

Rubelis — Tending the Garden

In the Garden, Rubelis tends to every emotion with equal care, no matter how gentle or dangerous it may be.

Rubelis — The Void of Dissolving Sorrows

The second realm is the Void—an endless, empty space where painful obsessions dissolve into blue mist that lingers in the air.

Rubelis — Listening to the Void

In the Void, Rubelis collects fading emotions in glass flasks, listening carefully to their whispers until they finally dissolve into silence.

Rubelis — The Gallery of Preserved Memories

The third realm is the Gallery. Here, emotions carrying precious memories are transformed into gemstones, carefully preserved and displayed.

Rubelis — Curating the Gallery

Rubelis often wanders through the Gallery, admiring the luminous gemstones that hold precious memories. Sometimes, she climbs onto an empty pedestal, quietly becoming another work on display.

Rubelis — The Forge of Emotional Transmutation

The final realm is the Forge. Here, overwhelming and dangerous emotions are set ablaze, dissolving into drifting smoke before finally disappearing.

Rubelis — Burning Within the Forge

In the Forge, Rubelis allows herself to fully relax, drifting freely upon the rising smoke. As the emotions burn away, so do her own worries.

Rubelis — Entering the Domain

These five panoramic illustrations provide an overview of the magical rules and world of Rubelis.

Into the Rift

Into the Rift is an original graphic novel that draws from the artist's own adolescence. Set within a series of layered, surreal dreams, the work follows a girl as she moves through confusion, self-rejection, and emotional unrest. Rather than offering resolution, the story becomes an act of emotional release—an attempt to gently embrace and reconnect with her younger self. The project was awarded the Silver Medal in the Comics category at the 2025 iJungle Illustration Awards.