2025 Booooooom Illustration Awards Winner: Bella Han

For our second annual Illustration Awards, supported by Format, we selected 5 winners from each of the following categories: Editorial, Personal, Advertising & Promotional, Product & Packaging, Student. It is our pleasure to introduce the winner of the Student category: Bella Han.

Bella Han is a freelance illustrator from China and a first year student in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts (Class of 2027). This work is part of a series illustrating one of the most famous Qing Dynasty stories in China, which depicts the opulent yet tragic life of Zhenhuan, a concubine of Emperor Yongzheng, who later became Empress Dowager after his death.

This year’s awards were sponsored once again by Format, an online portfolio builder specializing in the needs of photographers, artists, and designers. With nearly 100 professionally designed website templates and thousands of design variables, you can showcase your work your way, with no coding required. To learn more about Format, check out their website here or start a 14-day free trial.

We caught up with Bella to ask her to share a bit about herself and her artistic process—check out our full interview below!