Meet the Artist :: David Luong

#91

Thanks so much Jtemp! (sorry don’t know your real name :stuck_out_tongue: ) How long do you have left at Full Sail and how is it going so far?

For setting up your portfolio online, I would get your own domain name that is your first and last name if unique, or a nickname, or some clever name that’s short and simple. For me, it’s www.davidluong.net (.com was taken doh!) I’ve had it for well over 10 years now, and it has been a great presence for me despite all of the other art portfolio websites that have sprung up.

There, create a nice and simple layout using an easy template if you’re not into building websites from scratch such as Wordpress, Squarespace, or Wix and customize it to your liking. Speed, and content is key! Don’t be too flashy or use any heavy animations that will slow the navigation experience down. In there, have links to categories that you specialize in. Such as: Digital Matte Painting, Lighting, Compositing, etc, each in their own. Or you can separate into Personal, or Professional art work.

Branch out into Traditional Artwork as it’s own link if you like. Have a bio page, and a demo reel/resume page or they can be rolled into one. Make the resume a downloadable PDF file as it’s a consistent state, not .jpg or Word document or the like. Keep the resume to 1-2 pages max. Have some nice images that are thumbnails in the sub pages and pop out to larger images when you click on them in a nice light box. Squarespace/Wix has something like that you can setup easily, and Wordpress if you’re more in the tinkering mode.

Now that you have your personal website, I would also suggest you setup an online presence in the other social networking sites. Namely:

Those are the big ones these days, but I need to stress you be really active in Facebook as that’s a huge forum right now for artists all over the world to connect not just personally, but for art sake and sharing. So many people are connected, and if one piece of quality art is posted, the potential for audience and sharing with their audience is huge. Connect with your favorite artists and keep in contact with them on both a personal and professional level if possible (with the latter being most important of course). The world is so small these days, with the Internet, and especially for our industry. One day you might have an opportunity to work with another and being connected will give you a speedier opportunity when it does arise.

Hope that helps, good luck!

#92

I forgot to add, Behance.net from Adobe is also a really great portfolio tool, check it out!

#93

david, i just love blizzard cinematic movie, and i want to making 3d animation in blizzard. but i am in the army in korea. and discharged this year december. i am little good at drawing, and interested in modeling. lighting and compositing looks excited, but i am not sure that i good at it, talent to do it.
what can i do for my 3d artists’s skill about 10months? i have only pencil and paper…haha… everyday drawing is boring…
please help me… i have to do something! when i watched blizzard’s movie and also sf movie, it’s so excited! give me some advice to do!
when i discharged army, i will learn 3d animation detailed in academy in korea.

#94

Beautiful work, fantastic lighting!

#95

Beautiful Matte Painting! You can color:).

#96

Thanks Magvfx and JonANM!

Sorry for the month delay in response. So happy you are inspired by the Blizzard cinematics! In the 10 months that you have, please do continue drawing for sure! What you can also do, is study nature, and draw cities that you see, and landscapes with your pencil and paper. That’s all you really have, so just use it to it’s maximum potential. Draw every day! Also you can have friends sit down for you and you can practice drawing portraits of them too. They would love one, and you could get great practice for anatomy out of it.

As for CG training, if you don’t have a computer, it’ll be really hard to learn the programs. But, if you have internet access from time to time, you can watch tutorial videos and watch videos (such as the Blizzard cinematics) or other inspiring videos to get your mood going. Try to see how they do things, how they model, light, bring everything together in compositing, and how it enhances the story in general. Also just watching great VFX movies in general (look for the Oscar award nominated and winnings films in VFX) and study how they also do things.

After the 10 months and getting discharged, I think you’ll be ready to go into the academy and really pursue your passion in the CG industry as the teachers there will further guide you into what you require for the industry. I’d like to hear back from you in a year or two though, please keep me posted here or in email! :slight_smile:

#97

Hi David ,
So far you are the best idol for me at CG industry . I am trying to be CG artist right now .
And I feel that I am more interest in Matte painting and compositing . But still feel good to do modeling , texturing and some dynamic and particles ( not as much as composting ) . So for an CG artist do we need to learn every single fields (all those modelinig , texturing etc …) ? and until which level we need to learn . I believe for the matte painting and composting I really need to go deep down for colour theory , lighting etc … and I am go for it too .
But for the other field ? :sad: :sad:
Best Regards
Hlaing Min

#98

i’ve been following blizzard art in games and cinematics indeed , and it is just amazing , and kind of obvious when artist so talented like you are involved , i want so badly to reach blizzard some day , actually i’m on my way to become a better artist , but i realize how much i have to study for it , so my question would be this david :smiley: … what should i study next? and would be the best institute, school or whatever to do it online? actually i have a good foundations about modelling , and i’m able to buil complete characters in zbrush with accersories , weapons etc , but i know that i can be a better char artist , so i dont really know what should i study to improve it all , i mean is texture painting and shading the next step ? or maybe lighting for a char turntable? or render? or rigging ? i dont really know what should i study next or even where in so many online schools , can you give your opinion please? thinking about i really want to reach blizzard level to join in haha :smiley:

#99

Mind blowing work!!!

#100

Heyo Hlaing,

Aww thanks so much! The areas you are interested in, make you more of a generalist. Understanding all aspects is great I think especially early on. But you’ll want to specialize more into one or two parts of the pipeline if you want to work at the bigger studios. At smaller studios, or where they allow more generalist work such as Environment Artist, knowing all parts is good though. Early on, you’ll want to definitely learn color theory, photography, digital painting for environments, and modeling/compositing after. Hope that helps!

Allo Andres,

I’m happy to be able to help where I can here. What is the status of your art education now? And are you willing to move around or do you want to just do online classes? So I can’t really recommend what you want to do next until knowing that I suppose.

At Blizzard, we are more specialized for the cinematics team. If you want to be a modeler, you just need awesome models. If you want to be a texture/shader artist, then you should have a model and can demonstrate amazing procedural and painting as well as technical skill to surface an object. For lighting, you’ll want to be involved in fully CG rendered environments/characters, which is hard to do by yourself, more if you were from a bigger studio doing this already. Compositors, are also the lighters at Blizzard, so knowing both is required. Again, hard to do that by yourself, so working at other studios that provide this for your reel and slowly gaining the knowledge and shots for your demo reels is what I recommend for lighting/compositing.

It all boils down to what you really want to do in the cinematics team. Have a look at the job forums at blizzard.com/jobs and you can see it’s really broken down by discipline. Focus on which part of the pipeline you are most passionate about, and be the strongest at that. I would recommend the amazing CGworkshops here at CGsociety, Gnomon DVD and Gumroad tutorials for self learning, and Digitaltutors.com for a sort of affordable online course. If you have time to learn all of this on your own at home, then that’ll save you lots of money. If you want to do study full time as a student, you will be gaining not just the knowledge, but friends and a network of potential coworkers in the future. It will come at a greater cost money wise though. So which ever one you prefer and can afford of course. Let me know what you are leaning towards.

#101

David!
Thank you so much for the valuable information :smiley:
Now i Understand more clearly ,regarding to my education i have an Associate degree in digital arts , since there i studied by my own, practice again and again ,and read so many zbrush book ,so much anatomy and 3d in a generalist way to say so , but now i started to work at an studio doing character for tv and short films ; so here i found how much i like to create character , so i
want to be a 3d char artist , that’s why my questions , to know what should i study next to complement the modeling/sculpting abilities i already have , but the obvious answer for me would be lighting , shading n texturing altogether plus a lot of experience to create and build for my reel the highest quality production ready char that Blizzard needs :smiley: , am i right?

#102

Hi david i love all of your work especially the blizzard stuff.

just one question here. im 29years old and have started learning 3dmax. im a pretty fast learner once i have time but am married and have two kids while working a fulltime job. do u think theres anyway to get good enough learning on your own at home with so little time? probably only 2hours a day if even that with a few extra hours on the weekend?

thanks
chris

#103

Hello
I like your work
I’m interested in what it’s like working in high end film studios

#104

how you can get a beautiful idea in every your work

thanks

#105

Hio Chris,

Sorry for the late reply! Thanks so much, the team at Blizzard is an amazing one. Definitely always room to learn especially on your own and after hours if you can manage it. Don’t kill yourself over it though, but being persistent and learning just a little bit each day for an hour or so would be ideal. Even on the weekend, you can ask your family to block out some hours where you get your “me time” so you can speed up your learning. So many resources out there on the internet to learn from such as Gumroad, Patreon, and the CGWorkshops here which are really flexible in the hours of practice and learning due to it’s forum style system. Good luck in your endeavors!

Thanks!

Hi there, usually I love to play games, watch movies, or even just every day going outside and enjoying walking around and observing things to get inspired for new ideas. I also love photography, so going around and taking pictures for how real life reacts to certain lenses and styles really gets me inspired to. They also act as great base plates for my matte paintings, or reference textures to be used in creative ways!

#106

How did you decide on which role you would pursue in VFX?
What did you do right after you graduated?
What would you say the upcoming generation of digital artist in your field lack?
What attributes are needed to be successful at your role?
Is it a stressful job role and how do you deal with the pressure?
Are there any films that gave you passion or inspiration for your area of work?
What other interests do you have that help influence your work and keep you motivated?
Have you ever worked with someone who is deaf? If so how did you communicate with them?

of course i will look some questions what you answered. Thank you!

#107

Hio Monzer,

  1. When I was in highschool, I learned Photoshop on my own, and that lead me to believe I would become a graphic or web designer later in life. But after going through college, I learned I loved to make my creations, similar to what I would do in Photoshop, move with the camera. From there, compositing was my passion which lead to matte painting after wards as I could create my own worlds for the characters I would use in compositing.
  2. I did a small stint at Disney Toon Studios as a background painter, and then went on to to roto/paint for Luma Pictures in LA
  3. I think a lot of the practical on set lighting or photographic experience to get that real world sense that one could apply in CG. Just working all in CG won’t give you that grounding basis.
  4. Always observing the real world, study your peer’s works, see all of the VFX movies/shows/shorts you can out there, good and bad, and then compare them all to see what works and what doesn’t between them.
  5. This job can be stressful yes, especially when it’s close to the deadline where you have to do lots of overtime to get a project done. Stress reliever? I would say video games and just working on my photography projects!
  6. The films that inspired my passion are The NeverEnding Story, Spaceballs, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, The Matrix, and finally The Lord of the Rings as I was going through school.
  7. I run an art gallery where I live at the artist loft in Downtown Santa Ana, and seeing and curating all of these wonderful digital artist’s works really keep me motivated in the industry. You can check it out at http://photonicplayground.com
  8. I did actually! I met her during my job at Luma Pictures, one of the nicest person I’ve ever met. Her name is Amy and she wasn’t totally 100% deaf but had a hearing aid and could read people’s lips pretty well. Luckily, this was a very visual job and all of it was mostly just looking at the screen and tweaking work. But I would learn from her lots, as she was my senior, and did so by sitting close, listening to her talk and gesture, and also her understanding me by hearing me close and watching how I speak. It was great!

Sorry it was late, but hope this all helps you!

David

#108

Hi David,

Thank you for reply! Some of your answers are important to me for my future so I am grateful for your reply. I also had another query, I wanted to work remotely in the future because we live very far from each other, also it makes communication easier. What do you think?

I also wanted to get in touch with Amy, would that be possible? If you could give me her email address or I could forward mine.

#109

No problem!

Amy’s design page is here, you can check out her work and give her a message! https://www.facebook.com/Amy-Duarte-Designs-229475400572544/

Regarding working remotely, depends on the studio and project, as many need people working on site for speed, trust or security reasons. Most remote working artists can do so due to their experience and reputation for doing good work on their own too…so a few factors but it’s definitely possible!

David

#110

Hi David,

I went through and read a lot of these questions, but I didn’t see any answering what I was looking for so I’ll go ahead and ask you some more.

What do you think is the most important thing for a lighting artist to know? Is it to work with color well? Maybe how to break down a scene? Maybe material surfaces? I ask because I’m heading into my senior year of college and I’m an aspiring lighting artist. I have some good stuff and a pretty good understanding of it all, but I would like know what professionals are expected to know what what is valuable in that setting.

Also, what do you think would be the most important thing for some at my level (still trying to make it as a professional) to know? I guess in a sense, if you were in my position what would you try and do to get the job? I’ve got a pretty good resume right now, and my cover letter is almost where I want it as well, but I know my reel needs some work.

Also, I enjoy photography a lot and have a few shots that I think are really nice and could help show someone that I understand aesthetics, color, etc. in the lighting area, but i’m afraid putting photography in my reel may ruin it for me. Would you consider this a no-no, or something I should go ahead and do?

Thank you for answering all of these questions, I appreciate it!
-davis