Meet the Expert: Concept Artist Henry Wong

We interviewed concept artist, Henry Wong,
to find out how he continues to establish himself in the industry.

Henry’s favorite sketch done in February 2020.

Henry Wong graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts & Art History and studied character animation at Central Saint Martins. He started his journey as a concept art intern for video games at an outsourcing game studio. Henry is now a freelance visual development and concept artist working for studios like Netflix, Paramount, Sony, etc. He currently works for Thatgamecompany and was honoured for being a Top 50 Prints Seller in the Artstation 2020-2021 recap. You can find his artwork on Artstation and Instagram.

Read more as he gives us a glimpse of working as a concept artist, his philosophy, and what he thinks of the ScreenBar.

What It’s Like Working as a Concept Artist

What are your routines as a concept artist?

Before I had my child, I used to wake up around 7 or 8 o’clock. I made breakfast, exercised, and then I’ll draw. I draw for an hour every day and have continued doing this for about 5 years. I do this because I never found myself to be that talented of an artist. I thought I had to work hard and study more than usual.

“If you do this warm-up hopefully you get your bad ideas out earlier in the day, so then when you’re doing your professional work, you aren’t doing bad work.”

"Drawing skills will degrade if you don't stay on top of them.” – Henry Wong

Is there anything that is more complex than what people think?

Drawing. It takes a while to get started. Some people think it’s easy, but it takes a long time to master. If you don’t stay on top of it, you will get worse at drawing. You have to draw a little bit every day or else you’ll get worse at it.

Are there any tasks that you find repetitive but necessary?

Probably the foundational side of drawing like thumbnailing, making sure your values are good, shapes, and composition. It’s little bit on the boring side but it’s important that your drawing foundations are good, even if it’s rough sketches. All that stuff needs to be done before you can move on to the next stage.

“Like building a house, the foundation needs to be good.”

Lighting can really make or break a scene

How would you define your style?

I think the way I draw is quite graphical. I love lighting and color, that's what I gravitate towards. I also love shapes and I'm quite flexible because I have sort of done different styles over the years. But naturally, I think I like to draw graphically.

Henry’s capture of the light.

Are there any elements that you like or often use in your artworks? And why?

When I do these studies, I learn a lot about lighting. I keep something like a library of information in my head about different scenarios. If I come across a problem where I'm not sure how to approach a scene, I’ll think about all the other times I’ve drawn, let’s say a night scene, and try to apply it to the scene even if it has dragons or robots. I can still apply what I know back into the scene to make it a little bit more realistic or believable.

Lighting kind of gels everything together, I think it's how we perceive the world. That's how you see. If the lights off, your brain can kind of tell you that it's a bit strange.

“Having good lighting can really make or break a scene.”

Stay productive and never stop learning from the world

How do you increase your productivity at work?

You have to find a system that works for you. Maybe you don't work well in the morning and you work better in the evenings. Maybe you're the type of person who needs to exercise before you go to work, or you need to exercise after work. Find what works better for you mentally. There's lots of different little things.

Is there anything else that you think is the key to good work?

I think the way I draw is quite graphical. I love lighting and color, that's what I gravitate towards. I also love shapes and I'm quite flexible because I have sort of done different styles over the years. But naturally, I think I like to draw graphically.

I've recently started taking up photography for fun and it’s very hard. I didn't realize how hard photography was but I feel like it's reinforced my learning and it made me appreciate cinematography. Now I know how difficult it is to shoot a beautiful film. So cross learning and wanting to learn are both key to good work.

“I think if you stuck in your ways and just wanted to do the same thing over and over again, you'll reach a point that you become stagnated and find it difficult to grow.”

Your first thoughts of the BenQ ScreenBar

Henry’s work-from-home setup with BenQ ScreenBar Halo

What was your first thought when you learn about this kind of light?

When I first saw that, I wasn’t sure if it was something I needed or wanted to buy because I never had the need for it previously. But after using it I think it is quite interesting like the temperature control. I was trying to use the ScreenBar at night and it did reduce the glare. Since I had the overhead light, it kind of reflects a bit off my screen and it did help. However, I need to test it a bit more.

Perspectives on the present and the future

“Car At Dawn” – inspired by a scene from Google Map

On a scale of one to a hundred, how would you rate your life so far?

It's close to a hundred, I don't know where, but I think it's high up there. Like I said, I was never very studious and didn’t always have the best grades. I didn't really know where my talents lay, like I wasn’t even the best artist in my class. So, the fact that I got this far in the industry, it’s been a miracle for me and it’s something that I didn’t expect. I’ve been really enjoying myself so far.

Do you have any future goals as a concept artist?

Maybe one day I‘ll try art crafting, and maybe release an art book. But all these things are far in the future, I just take one day at a time and enjoy the time that I have. I'm not trying to be ambitious at moment.

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Meet the Expert: Concept Artist Henry Wong