David Luong

David Luong is a Senior Cinematic Video Game Artist Level 2 at Blizzard Entertainment, with works ranging from 3D lighting, compositing and digital matte painting. He graduated from the Academy of Art University in 2005 with a BFA in Fine Arts and 3D Visual Effects Animation. He has worked on all of the major cinematics for Blizzard's AAA game titles such as World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, and Hearthstone from 2006 to present. Luong is said to be an avid video gamer and movie lover. David Luong is one of the most significant contributors to the matte painting community and has a wide fan-base in the video games world.

Background

Luong has worked in the visual effects industry for over 8 years. While growing up, he played numerous games (like The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest) and watched countless movies (like The Neverending Story, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings). All of which have eventually cultivated him as an artist, and inspired him to becoming a video game artist himself. He used Photoshop in high school working for the journalism class, for which he did graphic headers and was the online editor for The North Star newspaper. After studying color theory, drawing and toiling away endlessly at the computer lab to finish his projects for school, Luong graduated from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a bachelors of fine art degree emphasizing in 3D Animation and Visual Effects in 2005. There, he learned what particle FX, lighting, compositing, and matte painting were.

Career

Luong worked at Disney Toon Studios after graduation, then jumped to Luma Pictures on the 3rd St. Promenade office, above the Hooters and Vidal Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica. Luong moved on to Rhythm & Hues, a legendary studio of Oscar fame. In 2006 he got into Blizzard Entertainment, working on every single game franchise for the company: Starcraft, Diablo, World of Warcraft. At Blizzard his works ranged from matte painting to lighting and compositing.

Teaching

Luong also teaches CGSociety's online Matte Painting class, supporting students from all around the world. Since 2008, he has mentored hundreds of students in digital matte painting.

Video games

Publications

Luong co-authored the book D'artiste Matte Painting 3: Digital Artists Master Class with Damien Mace and Milan Schere.

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