An Interview with Dr. Chee Ming Wong

3dtotal: Hello Chee, could you tell us a bit about yourself, please? And how would you best describe your artwork?

Chee: Good to meet you, Chris. I’m the Creative Director and co-founder of a concept and visualisation company, specialising in pre-production artwork for the entertainment industry. I am particularly fond of environmental and genre of aerospace, sci-fi and fantasy, depending on the client’s requirements.

3dtotal: Could you tell us why you decided to set up Opus Artz Limited, and where did the name come from?

Chee: Opus Artz reflects the culmination of a desire to produce artistic excellence and offer an approachable and adaptive service to various game developers and production studios around the world.

The aspiration was to create a dynamic and innovative studio comprised of seasoned experienced artists with a diverse background in the field. This allows us to offer a sophisticated and flexible solution to the industry that provides expert input on a project by project basis.

The meaning behind Opus reflects an “epic work of art”, and is representative of the digital studio that sets out to produce an exciting diversity of conceptual art and design.

3dtotal: You graduated from Sheffield Medical School in 2001, and then went on to become a concept artist whilst specialising as an anaesthetist. Could you tell us why you chose to start doing 2D art when you sound like you had a very promising medical career?

Chee: Whilst specialising as an anaesthetist and doctor-in-training, a passion to visualise worlds and environments for games and movies came forth, after being influenced by the beautiful, lush visuals of various matte painters and concept artists It was a time when digital artwork was coming forth (2001), whereby the use of digital tablets enabled rapid visualisations of concepts and illustrations that could build upon the traditional skill-set of industrial design principles. And thus, I built upon two careers in parallel over the next eight years, whilst freelancing on various MMORPG projects and CGI animation pre-production projects, whilst being actively involved with the rapid growth of digital artists.

Ultimately, the urge and opportunity to crystallise this experience formally came about in October 2007, with the formation of a European based team of experienced concept artists and industrial designers. The aim was to provide high quality visuals and to concentrate purely on the pre-production process, whilst providing a strong design team offering services in professional web design, packaging and brand development, all targeted specifically at the entertainment industry. To date, I can firmly look back and state that I am very thankful for the amazing opportunity and support to be able to realise my passion, and in some small part to contribute in the creative process of game and movie development with various independent and established developers.

3dtotal: So are your artistic talents self-taught or did you attend any college/universities?

Chee: My schooling in art is entirely self-taught,with invaluable help, tutelage and critique from the digital online community. Namely, I owe a large body of my improvement and art skills to Kim Taylor, Phil Straub, Don Seegmiller, and the local Euro/UK art movement. However, I do sometimes reflect on my progress and wonder if it would have come to the same course with a formal background at college/university. Nevertheless, I learnt my skills through daily perseverance and through working on active game projects and freelancing in illustration and design.

3dtotal: Your interest in aerospace reflects somewhat in your work. Have you ever attempted to try different genres, or is this solely where your interest lies?

Chee: Actually, I have various interests in multiple genres of sci-fi, fantasy, alternative history, steampunk and industrial design. It just so happened that during the period of 2005 to 2008, my focus had been purely concentrated on aerospace, space and sci-fi related artwork.

Due to the varied clientele and projects at Opus Artz, I have had since explored other genres and period designs such as art deco, steampunk, diesel punk, cyberpunk and retropunk that I would not be surprise if I were to one day be typecasted as a steampunk artist.

Ultimately, the aim would be to become an accomplished versatile generalist,Â although the aerospace genre will always hold a special place in my heart.

So what is it about â€˜space medicineâ€™ that interests you so much? Someday, someone has to get us up there. Perhaps I wonâ€™t be around to personally pioneer the exploration of the local planets/galaxy, but any effort to help advance that course, may it be through a blend of astronomy, medicine and art, the thought of space exploration can be likened to the next natural horizon to explore akin to the Wild West.

3dtotal: What and/or who are your main sources of inspiration?

Chee: Most notabl;y Craig Mullins,John Wallins Liberto and Erik Tiemens; tempered by the variety of concept art by various established artists, such as Feng Zhu, Khang Le and Ian McCaig.Â

You sound like an incredibly busy man! So when you have the chance to take time off, what sort of things do you enjoy doing?

The thought of doing absolutely nothing and living domestic bliss with my wife, be it at home, doing home DIY or slobbing about in the local community or nature park, is my idea of having a good time off! This would of course be interspersed with frenetic drawing, sketching and painting non-stop, even during my time off, or on occasion gallivanting to the local museums or historical sites forÂ sightseeing, sketching and photography.

3dtotal:Well it has been a pleasure talking with you and I wish you and your company all the best. One last question before we wrap things up: what has been the most influential piece of advice that you have been given, and by whom?

Chee: My father often says that failure is merely a stepping stone to success. Coupled with sheer stubbornness and determination, I believe if you set out to achieve your heartâ€™s desire, the whole process of that journey can be sometimes more rewarding than getting there. In closing, I would like to say that one should take time to smell the roses and enjoy the local sights, once you reach your destination...

Re-printed with permission of 3dTotal.com

An Interview with Dr. Chee Ming Wong

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