Born in Beijing and raised in Canada, Susan Shao has been drawing since she was a little girl. She graduated from the University of Waterloo with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Fine Arts, specializing in Studio Art, and later took "Conversations from the Toronto Art World" at the University of Toronto.

After more than ten years building software, Susan now runs a startup in Toronto. She still sketches a new portrait every day, usually in the twenty minutes before school pickup, and shares her sketchbooks with thousands of people on YouTube as duo's art.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I believe art should make you feel something. Whether I'm sketching or painting, I try to capture the emotion behind a face, especially the gaze. My inspiration comes from studying human expression, past and present, and from the habit of drawing a new face every day. Each portrait is a small study in feeling; the finished piece is almost a souvenir of the process.