Tommy Luong

Review

Tell us about yourself: Who are you, what do you love to do and where are you from?

My name is Tommy Luong, currently based in California. In my free time, I’ve always enjoyed video games and watching films which have become some of my biggest sources of inspiration. I’m currently in the process of creating a portfolio to pursue my goal of breaking into the illustration industry.

In terms of my educational background, my love for figure drawing and admiration of artists with traditional training led me to southern California where I attended Watts Atelier of the Arts to hone my fundamental skills. I’ve always been fascinated with the intricacies of the human form and the beauty in which it’s expressed with the traditional medium. I believe life drawing has always been a key part of my development and continues to be the largest influence on my art.

Overall, I’m constantly motivated by the ever-evolving gaming industry that has been inspiring countless amounts of artists like myself and I aspire to one day play a part in that as well.

What were the biggest problems you faced when you started as an artist?

I started to take art seriously when I was in my teenage years when I began to self-teach through Youtube video tutorials that eventually led me to other resources which were primarily books such as Hampton, Andrew Loomis, etc.

I was fascinated mostly with the human figure at the time and studying the intricacies of how to properly draw the figure is very difficult on your own. As self-teaching began to plateau, finding other avenues of education proved to be difficult as both the quality and price varied tremendously.

Finding sources of good information can be quite hard as it takes a lot of research which, to an inexperienced artist, can be very confusing. This led me to seek out the opinions of other artists which can be a challenge on its own as well. Ultimately, I always found the hardest thing to do was taking the first step.

Project Akali fan art

A splash art for the character of Akali in the League of Legends universe. An interpretation of the PROJECT skin line.

Why did you decide to sign up for CGVerse online art school?

As I came home from school during the pandemic in 2020, I began working on my own to create a portfolio tailored for illustration. As the months went by, I realized how hard it can be doing it on your own as my educational background mainly consisted of traditional figure drawing and oil painting. I decided I needed guidance to help get me started on properly creating a portfolio.

I eventually came across CGVerse through researching ways to learn remotely and decided to give it a shot.

What did you do during the mentorship and what helped you on each task?

During the mentorship, we were given the freedom to create an illustration of our choosing as well as keep our fundamental skills sharp through drawing and thumbnail exercises. We were given a thorough walkthrough on the process of creating an image each week as we worked on our own personal illustrations.

Through each stage of the illustration, we were given extensive notes on how to improve, most notably, from efficiency in building from simple to complex, rendering techniques, and finishing touches through post-processing.

Irelia Fan art

Splash art for the character of Irelia in the League of Legends universe.

How was the mentorship for you?

The mentorship for me was a valuable experience as it gave me a new understanding of not only image creation but also the current climate of the ever-evolving illustration industry. To have a professional working in the industry giving you insight is an invaluable resource, especially from someone as genuine and generous as Vincent Tran.
Knowing that it really made me comfortable that I could voice any questions and concerns that would inevitably arise. Overall, I had a great experience working with everyone throughout the process of the mentorship and it’s one that I would even want to experience again.

What would you say when you recommend us to an artist?

I would say, as someone who has done a lot of research in the various different avenues of educational programs, CGVerse was the only one to offer a truly unique experience through having knowledgeable and skillful mentors in different fields, but also providing a program that felt tailored towards everyone’s very specific needs.
It’s a rare opportunity to have an extensive amount of time devoted to each student from a mentor and that is something very hard to find anywhere else. It makes CGVerse stand above many others.

What are your next steps?

My next step now is to keep developing my portfolio. Now that I have the start that I need, I feel like I finally have the tools to keep going. The mentorship has also given me the confidence to start sharing my work and whatever opportunity can possibly arise from that, I feel I can always rely on the foundation that I built with my mentor.

Thank you CGVerse!