Zilu Xu (Z) is an illustrator, manga artist, and printmaker based in Beijing, China. Born and raised in Beijing, Z attended high school in Tennessee and graduated with a BFA in Fine Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2025. They are now freelancing on art commissions while working on storyboards for projects.
Z’s work spans multiple dimensions, including zines, digital comics, hand-bound books, and prints. They are an avid RISO printer- because RISO printing is so freaking fun! Being raised by subcultural media and internet fandom communities, Z enjoyed the possibility and vitality of fanzines (or doujinshi in the East Asian context) and how those cute little self-publications eventually weave into the bigger picture of the independent comic world.
Aside from art practice, Z has been chronically hyperfixated on mythology and history since childhood. You might find them somewhere in a museum sketching some quirky artifacts.