A library’s heft and a dress’s wisps of gauze—textures like these inspire Jasu Hu to draw. The New York–based illustrator grew up in Hunan, China, surrounded by basin farmland, rivers and mountains. “Everything was quiet, but vivid,” she says. An early reader of Japanese comic books, Hu has always told stories through images. But she didn’t realize her drawings could lead to a career until a professor at Tsinghua University observed her doodling and encouraged her to study abroad—“I didn’t realize I was creating illustrations.” After graduating with an MFA in illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Hu now freelance illustrates for magazines and creates concept illustrations for smartphone games. Inspired by futurism and Swiss graphic style as well as compositions from fashion and architecture, her sophisticated illustrations have been noticed: Hu won the 2014 New Talent Award from the Association of Illustrators. She sums up her winning approach: “I seek evocative ways to solve problems that ask the viewer questions.”