About
Steph Yao is CHYAOROSCURO. SF Bay Area, California-based illustrator and multi-disciplinarian. Made of ink, red bean paste, and coffee.
The moniker ‘CHYAOROSCURO’ is a portmanteau combining my surname ‘Yao’ and the Renaissance term ‘chiaroscuro’ (which means ‘light and dark’, for the non-art history nerds).
I can adapt to different drawing styles and primarily work with pen and ink - where my biggest influences come from an amalgamation of vintage comics, Victorian Era illustrations and political cartoons, and Old World European and East Asian folk art.
The subject matter of my work ranges from the macabre to personal interests and sometimes light-hearted humor that may or may not involve puns.
My work is focused on detail incorporating the use of line width variation and sometimes hatching and stippling. I also love using digital media for typography, occasional graphic design work, rough sketches, coloring, animation work, and final touches.