A Parallel Planets piece by Pepe Serapio
Parallel Planets presents Brian Luong
in Austin Strikes Back
Story and Interview by Jofer Serapio
Mentioned: silkscreen, putting on different hats, and being productive
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Brian Luong is awesome.
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| art by Brian Luong |
And that's an understatement.
One only needs to browse through Brian's online gallery and it's pretty much lights out for the skeptic. What this guy does is nothing short of magic, the images he conjures never fail to amaze and awe his audience. Inspired by the very beauty of nature, he transforms the ordinary, the normal, into something much more. There is the revelry of youth, a celebration of a lifetime not yet experienced. There is poetry in his pronounced hatching, in the scatters of color he frequently employs. There is philosophy in the stray speckles and (some) distress that defines his style. There is the slight fish-eye effect in his landscapes.
Browsing through his gallery is like a sojourn through the philosophies of life and beauty and nature, of the things we see every day but not really, of the same things we think about but under a different light: more poetic, more tragic, more real.
As one can notice in his work, Brian has a thing for clouds. He also has a thing for dusk and getting lost in a good book. Perhaps the latter's where he gets his flair for the poetry in his pieces. Each of them has a story to tell, stories that anyone will not have a hard time dreaming up.
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| art by Brian Luong |
Fresh out of a successful "Drawlloween" project, in which he spent each day of October finishing a piece in a somewhat sinister theme, Brian revealed that when he's not chronicling the life and times of just about everyone in this planet, he rocks out with both guitar and bass. It's nothing big, he told us. He doesn't have dreams of forming a band.
He doesn't dream of becoming "the very best" anymore, either.
As I found myself lost in a delicious maze of his artwork, I stumbled into a few Pokemon-themed pieces. These were fusions, which was what they sound like: two, three, or more Pokemon being combined together to come up with a stellar (and sometimes just whacked out) new design. For some reason, I immediately associated six generations of monster-catching with him. Brian was quick to correct me: he's "not THAT into Pokemon (at least nowadays)."
But like most people, including myself, he was in the craze when it first became a hit. That was way back in grade school, a simpler time when all the monsters you needed to know were mentioned in a pretty cool rap. Well, most of them, anyway. After the original 151, Pokemon no longer seemed to be as addictive to Brian and his interest in the newer ones faded each generation. Oh, well. He'll always have Mewtwo.
To this sorcerer, being productive and being nice make up the bulk of his personal code. Oh, and not killing bugs. It's a big contradiction really, considering Mewtwo is a Psychic-type, which means that the disgruntled experiment is weak against Bug types. Or maybe Pokemon doesn't have anything to do with it. Maybe it's a live and let live kind of deal, a karmic belief? Why kill, anyway, when you can just chill?
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| art by Brian Luong |
Wait... Did I just liken him to a sorcerer?
Read on to my interview with Brian Luong and learn more about the printing process that developed his art, where he was more likely to venture, and his alternate universe name (which he drew from a hat). Don't kill bugs.
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Parallel Planets: Tell us something about Brian Luong as an illustrator and before he became one.
Brian Luong: “As an illustrator, Brian Luong is somewhat reclusive. Before he became one, he was more likely to venture outdoors.”
Parallel Planets: When did your inclination with visual art begin?
Brian Luong: “My Dad was good at drawing and he used to sit down with my brother and I to draw. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, but I think that's when it first started.”
Parallel Planets: What influences your work? What inspires you?
Brian Luong: “I look at a lot of photography, primarily scenic photography. I find these types of photos helpful as a reference for a mood I would like to set in my own work. Photos of strange animals and the occult are also inspiring when it comes down to subject matter.”
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| art by Brian Luong |
Parallel Planets: Tell us about the silkscreen printing process and the role it plays in your art.
Brian Luong: “Basically the silkscreen printing process involves a prepped screen that acts like a stencil when ink is sqeegeed over the top, applying a single color of ink to a surface. A majority of t-shirts are printed using this process. This printing process played a huge part in the development of how my art looks like nowadays because when I was first getting started as a professional illustrator, I made my way through by means of the shirt design/illustration market. There are restrictions when working with silkscreen printing, such as color counts, canvas size, and art ratio, so I was learning and improving my skills in order to adapt to these types of restrictions.”
Parallel Planets: What project(s) are you currently working on?
Brian Luong: “A couple of cool projects! Sadly, I don't think I'm allowed to talk about those projects. I also have a couple of personal projects that I've been working on the side, and I recently just completed a Halloween-themed activity where I drew a piece daily for all 31 days of October!”
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| art by Brian Luong |
Parallel Planets: In this planet that we're thriving in—
What is your power animal?
“Chameleon, because no matter how many colors I like, my favorite color will always be green.”
Who is your alternate ego?
“I don't think I have an alter ego. I might put on different hats, but I'm still the same person in essence.”
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| art by Brian Luong |
Parallel Planets: In an alternate universe where Pokemon does not exist—
What will your name be?
“Brian; I figured I'd have the same name since I existed before Pokemon did. That plus I can't imagine having a different name without having to invest hours upon hours into choosing a new name! It would probably be best for me to pull a random name from a hat if I had to choose a new name.
The name I drew was Austin.”
What do you think you would be doing instead?
“Hard to say. I might be an engineer or do something that involves building or crafting things with my hands.”
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| art by Brian Luong |
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