Growing up in China, Calvin Liang was ordered to work on a farm when he graduated from high school, but kept up his obvious talent of drawing and painting. He later had a job painting sets at the Canton Opera, and then studied at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. In 1987, he left China for San Francisco where he worked at menial jobs and saved enough money to buy oil paints and other supplies. He also painted cartoons for Marine World and worked as a sidewalk portraitist. He joined the Artist Guild of San Francisco and exhibited with them.

In 1997, he moved to Los Angeles and worked in the animation studios of Disney and then Nickelodeon. His animation credits include "Little Mermaid", "Cinderella Stories" and "Sponge Bob Square Pan...