Elegy Wong
Tell me a little bit about yourself, about your life? Where did you go to school, and what classes did you study? What helped prepare you to become the artist that you are today?
Hi, hi! My name is Elegy Wong, I do freelance art stuff and a little graphic design sideline. I live in a quiet town in Northern Samar (wow layo!) and I'm turning 19 this feb! Yay!
I've been drawing stuff since I was 12; I joined a school drawing contest out of curiosity and found out I could draw decent faces, and ever since then, I've been filling my notebooks with doodles and made-up comic strips about my friends and classmates. It made them excited but the teachers and my parents weren't as happy unfortunately, and I have gotten on a lot of trouble because of that. I never really took drawing seriously until just about a year ago when I got my very first commission. I thought, wow, I just sat here, made a drawing, had fun doing so and then got paid! I could get rich with just this (evil laugh). After a week or so, my older brother bought me a pen-tablet and that same day I made my dA account. So its like, I've only been an active artist for like, 10 months -my dA acc says so. :)
I took a couple of non-art-related courses but never got passed the first sems. I dunno, I never really liked listening to people talking; I'm like those types that likes to find out stuff themselves. I am also not very sociable and I find being around people very tiring.
What inspired or convinced you to become an Artist?
The internet. Bwahahaha!But seriously: video games and MMORPGs. For as long as I can remember, my dream had always been to design or direct a game of my own. Tetsuya Nomura, I'd say, is my main reason for being concept art/game design obsessed. Also, Mike Inel. I discovered him just last year with his Which game. I thought, if a Filipino can do this -single handedly- maybe I can too *eye sparkles* haha so yeah, those kinds of stuff convinced me. That's all thanks to the internet though ;)
What is a typical day for you, and who are the people you work with?
My typical day.. hmm... sleeping? Because I'm kinda nocturnal and I do stuff mostly at night :DD
Like, I wake up at around 12pm, watch tv, do chores, go outside a little and then at about 6 I get into my work mode where I sit in front of my pc and draw all night. And then I sleep at 3 :DD
What are some of the things that you have worked on?
You mean like big things that makes people famous? *shrugs* I did some stuff with the local street art scene, mostly just doodled walls. I wish I'd have one big to work on soon though..
How do you go about illustration, what goes through your mind, from start to end?
I never never never draw when there are bright lights on in the room I'm in. It distracts me. I also never get focused on working without music in my ears. I'm also currently training myself not to "alt+tab" to my web browser while drawing. Its hard.
Could you talk about your process in coloring your art (if at all), as well as the types of tools or media that you use?
I use Easy Paint Tool SAI, sketch-to-finish. I have a bunch of coloring process that I kinda made up myself but I always try to stick to less than 5 layers when coloring as much as possible.
What are some of the things that you do to keep yourself creative?
Video games, movies, looking at people's art and stuff.. The usual :DD
What is your most favorite subject to draw, And why?
Hmm, people? With weapons and stuff.. Fantasy... Pretty girls and their boobies, badass boys and their arms and abs... I suck at drawing landscapes, but I think I can improve on that if I un-lazy mode myself.. :)
Who are the top illustrators whose works excite you the most?
WOW. There are just really a LOT of illustrators that excites me. Naming a few, there are Tetsuya Nomura, his works on Kingdom Hearts and TWEWY, Hyung Tae Kim and alot of Korean game-art-artists like REWHY and kkuem and Alien1452 for his coloring techniques - he also did the art on the mmorpg NeoSteam which I kinda got addicted to for a while..
Also, japanese artists like 兎鷺(とろ), Redjuice and Huke, またよし and Rae - Rae's yaoi are just... hnnnngg... even if you're not into that kinds of stuff, you'll go hnnnggg with how she does her works. And also Ishikei -his works are hentai but the way he colors his art is just... exciting (wink).
What are some of the neat things you have learned from other artists that you have worked with or seen?
I dunno where I heard this from but If you unfocused your eye (nearly crossing it) while sketching/coloring, you'd see your work more "as a whole" and see your mistakes and stuff. It works and I kinda cross my eyes alot :3
What are some of your favorite websites that you go to?
deviantart.com, 4chan, pixiv, facebook hehe..
What wisdom could you give us, about being an Artist? Do you have any tips you could give?
Just enjoy what you're doing, I think. And also never try to figure out how others do what they do, try to figure out how you'd do it instead. That way your own style will develop.
If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted?
Hmm.. email? Maybe through Fb or dA 'cause I rarely check my emails now..
Finally, do you have any of your art work for sale (sketchbook, prints, or anything) for fans of your work can know where and when to buy it?
Soon! I'm a part of this group and we're planning to compile an artbook to be released this summer, so watch out for that :DD
I also take irl commissions but I'm really hard to find hehe.. I'd take commish online though, if anyone'd ask me to.
Thanks!
Aheh you're very welcome! This blog is awesome! I'm glad to be part of it :DD
Bwahahahahahaaaa! xD I really don't know who George Estregan is! Haha!
I bought a copy of Radioactive Sago Project's new album and it's first track was called George Estregan Groove Explosion. That time, I din't know what nickname I should use as an artist online and almost every name I thought about was already taken. Frustrated and sleepy, I flipped out my player, set it on shuffle and decided that the artist name of the tenth track that was gonna play'd be my username. The tenth was Radioactive sago Project but I thought it was long and apparently Radioac was already taken. So I chose the track title instead. So viola, George Estregan. It was a groovy track, so why not? :DD
