Aining Wen
📖 Children's Books
🎄 Little Music Forest Series
🎨 Illustrations
🌟 Sketches
About & Contact Aining Wen
Aining Wen is an internationally awarded picture book artist known for her distinctive integration of illustration, music, and animation. Often described as a creator of “musical picture books,” her work explores how multisensory storytelling can deepen children’s emotional engagement and open intuitive pathways into art.
She earned her master’s degree in Children’s Book Illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in the UK and previously served as a children’s book editor at China Publishing Group for nine years. This dual perspective as both artist and editor informs her refined approach to visual narrative.
Since 2014, Aining has published over 30 titles, including Fairy Song, A Rainy Afternoon, The Secret of Chinese Music, and Music Forest, as well as illustration collections such as Drawing in Cambridge and How to Make Picture Books? Primarily released in simplified Chinese, her books have sold more than 500,000 copies.
Her work has received international recognition, including finalist selection for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition (2021), the iJUNGLE International Illustration Award, the Apila International Picture Book Award (2022), and the Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award. She was also named to the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list in 2021.
Through ongoing experimentation, Aining continues to expand the expressive possibilities of children’s picture books. Drawing inspiration from symphonic, classical, traditional Chinese, folk, jazz, and New Age music, she creates immersive reading experiences that invite young audiences to encounter art through multiple senses.