Beyond the animal

However, Luo Shaoxiang, 27, a professional comic illustrator, disagreed with Xue.

"I have seen Xue's pictures, but I think tracking the features of each animal sign onto the picture is not enough,” he said.

Luo said his pictures show "more characteristics of each sign.""To give one example, many people believe Leos require companionship. I showed this by drawing similar dolls around the main character," he explained.

His drawing of the Scorpio girl puts her in a bar to show she is a party animal. The Libra carries an apple in each hand to show her characteristic blance.

Luo said his pictures of the zodiac animals describe girls' lives. He updates the horoscope for each sign each week. "If Leos are in for bad luck in love this week, you will see it reflected in my pictures," he said.

"But don't believe in it. I myself believe only half at most. It is just for fun, and I pay more attention to the pictures themselves".

Make his own business

"Feizhi," a sophomore in Beijing Forestry University took up an interest in comics when he was in middle school. His portraits of the zodiac signs are based on his own experiences.

In his picture of Aries, a child runs desperately to catch a carrot. He said his Aries friends all had good goals and worked very hard. Feizhi's sister and ex-girlfriend were both Tauruses. He considered them demanding and material, so his Taurus character is a girl carrying a sack of money and brandishing a hip.

He considered publishing an album of his own,and has been very critical of the many albums, which he said are made poorly, in the market.

Feizhi said he is considering cooperating with some companies to produce a series of necklaces with the shapes he designed for each of the zodiac animals.

(Beijing Today May 28, 2008)