The story and Life of Qinni, the Artist That Impacted Many and Left Thousands Inspired

Qing Han, also known as 'Qinni'



Canadian artist Qing Han passed away Feb. 8 at 29 years old after a brief, yet hard battle with cancer. She was a popular and influential figure within the art community that pushed and inspired thousands of other artists to continue to grow.

With her last post only being posted four days before she passed, fans all over the world were caught in a wave of shock and sadness.

Han was born in Canada on March 20, 1990. As she grew up, her parents were rather disapproving of art, believing that it was a waste of time, so she was not allowed to draw at home.

"I was never allowed to draw at home, but I'd doodle on my notebooks in class and homework sheets," (Han “DeviantArt Weekly Artist Feature: Qinni”). Despite this, she eventually went on to study art in college, which her parents allowed since it was fairly inexpensive to attend. She graduated from Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in animation.

 
A famous piece titled "Starred Freckles" by Qinni 

DeviantArt is what truly sparked her growth in art and pushed her to continue to pursue it. Qinni was introduced to DeviantArt in 2005 thanks to a friend during high school, but did not start posting her own work there until 2008. In February 2017, she was awarded the 'Deviousness Award' from DeviantArt for her outstanding positive influence on the community. 
In 2015, she began to openly speak about and tell her fans about her heart condition. She was a 4x open heart surgery survivor. The condition was genetic. Throughout her times in and out of hospitals, getting surgeries and more, she never stopped expressing her medical struggles and her feelings through artwork. 

"Flowering Wounds" by Qinni


Qinni’s work was mainly manga and anime styled, and many of her pieces featured bright yellow stars and fish. A lot of her work also took place in hospital-like settings, as that's where she spent a good bit of her days. She gained a large fanbase and popularity from the unique and bold choices she made in her work.

DeviantArt is what truly sparked her growth in art and pushed her to continue to pursue it. Qinni was introduced to DeviantArt in 2005 thanks to a friend during high school, but did not start posting her own work there until 2008. In February 2017, her DeviantArt page as a whole was awarded the “Deviousness Award” from DeviantArt for her outstanding positive influence on the community.

In 2015, she began to openly speak about and tell her fans about her heart condition. She was a four-time open heart surgery survivor. The condition was genetic. Throughout her times in and out of hospitals, getting surgeries and more, she never stopped expressing her medical struggles and her feelings through artwork.

On Dec. 28, 2019, Qinni announced to her fans on social media that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 fibrosis sarcoma, a type of cancer. Her doctor gave her at least about one more year to live. She stated in the caption of one of her art pieces that this disease was terminal, but she stayed hopeful, along with her encouraging fans. Soon after this was learned and announced was when she began chemo. 

Qinni's treatments went through into the new year and into February. By the beginning of February, she began to post and update less, dealing with the effects chemo was having. 

On Feb. 5, she posted her last piece ever made titled "Fragile," where she spoke in the caption on Instagram about not feeling the best: "Not feeling the best today, but at least last round of chemo went better than my first round so I will take it. I feel so tired and weak but I've never had such a strong urge to keep drawing, so I might have pushed my body a little too far yesterday..." 

On her last Twitter update on Feb. 6, she spoke about becoming weaker and it making it difficult to continue to draw. It was two days later on Feb. 8 where she passed away, which was confirmed by her brother on her Instagram page.  

"Fragile" by Qinni, her final piece of work

With her amazing, bright personality as well as her creativity, Han left the whole art community saddened, yet inspired to keep her spirit alive within the community. Several fans have drawn tribute art for her, as well as starting the hashtag trend #galaxiesforqinni to spread tributes to her throughout different social media platforms.

“It’s always hard to lose a member of our community, but especially to lose someone who contributed as much to the community as Qinni did. From all of us at DeviantArt, we’re sending our condolences and well-wishes to everyone impacted by her passing,” stated DeviantArt in the caption of a repost of one of Qinni’s pieces on social media.

One of Qinni’s best friends named Cortney Howlett, a fellow artist, posted about the death on her page, expressing her sadness and deep feelings on what had taken place. “She was a light in my life and meant more to me than I can explain,” said Howlett.

One of Qinni's goals was to someday have a book of her work, which is something her fan base is now trying to fulfill for her.

Her work will continue to be admired, adored and used to inspire. She taught many of those who followed her to never give up, no matter how tough things may seem to be at the moment. She also showed people that there is always something good to be found in the darkest of times. Qinni's last piece conveys how fragile life truly is, we should treasure what we have and find the bright stars within the darkest nights.

Rest in peace, Qing Han. 











AT A GLANCE:

What: Popular artist Qing Han, ‘Qinni’, passed away due to cancer.

Where: Canada


Qing Han

Instagram: @qinniart

Twitter: @QinniArt

DeviantArt: @qinni

Facebook: @qinni.h

YouTube: @Qinni

Tumblr: @Qinni



Sources

DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/

DeviantArt interview with Qinni: https://www.deviantart.com/team/journal/Weekly-Artist-Feature-Qinni-830144738

Quotes from DeviantArt and friends:

https://nextshark.com/qinni-artist-fans-bid-farewell/

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