Rising Stars: Meet Keqi Wang

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keqi Wang.

Hi Keqi, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ma concept artist specializing in the entertainment industry. Currently working for a game development company in China. He has participated in Sony Interactive Entertainment Deviation Games, Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, Tencent, NetEase, and High Moon Studios, including AAA projects 《StudioWildcard_Ark2》, 《Deadpool》and so on.

I switched from the landscape design industry to make games. I think the design industry is interoperable, and the experience of landscape design is also helpful to me in making games to a certain extent. And I also think that conceptual design is an industry that requires a lot of comprehensive knowledge, such as traditional painting, sculpture, graphic design, advertising design, illustration, photography, industrial design, biology, architecture, construction technology, and so on. All of these can inspire and inspire me in design.

I started to learn painting when I was four years old. I was not a very good student or a smart student. The only thing I could do well was painting. I chose to change careers because I feel that conceptual design can be explored in a wider space, satisfying my various whims and ideas and expressing and presenting works more through my brushes.
I believe that art has a soul, and I like those bright colors and vivid pictures, which make me feel happy, and I also hope that works that can bring positive energy to the public. Of course, I also like cool stuff.

I love my job and enjoy those dopamine rushes it gives me. It makes me feel my worth and keeps me motivated to keep improving.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In fact, in the first game company I worked for, I worked for them for free for 3 months before I got the opportunity to enter the industry. I am also very grateful because I have knocked on the door of concept design since then. But I gradually found that the place I was in was like a greenhouse. It made me lose motivation, and I worked like a walking dead every day. When I saw the end of the day, I felt that it was a waste of my life. There seems to be a voice in my heart, it is calling me let me do what I want to do, be the person I want to be. I realize that I must break through the environment at this moment, and I must also break through the current self. I should not waste the talent and energy bestowed on me by God, and I don’t want to live my life in mediocrity.

I started looking for different ways and means to improve myself.

Later, classes from Sony concept artists Norris Lin and Lola Yiting Zhang opened up a new world for me. They showed me that design can be done this way! Design can be realized through scientific methods and can be implemented into practical and feasible projects. I continue to explore my own style in my studies, continue to explore and think, and grow through countless failed exercises.

I am very grateful to the friends and teachers who have helped me in my career and to everyone who has recognized me in this process.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At work, I am mainly responsible for the conceptual design of scenes and sometimes also include the design of creatures, weapons, characters, etc. I am better at conceptual design, quickly generating inspiration and atmosphere. Based on my sensitivity to color and the graphic art design library accumulated in my mind, I can quickly capture the inspiration of the moment. I love wandering around various inspiration libraries; it excites me and keeps my mind active. I love those photographic sculptures full of emotional power, those architectural designs full of geometric beauty, and those wonderful plants from nature. Their color textures are so wonderful. I love that graphic design brings me the most intuitive feeling. The collision of graphics and colors. I need to keep exploring and experimenting, keep trying new art forms and techniques, and keep challenging my creativity and imagination. I have also been studying traditional oil painting and modern oil painting, learning their colors, expressions, how to process pictures, etc.

Artists need to constantly try new art forms and techniques and continue to explore and innovate to break traditional art norms and boundaries. Unique works of art can be created by combining different art forms, using non-traditional materials, and employing new technical means. Secondly, you need to develop your own unique visual language and style to express your unique perspective and feelings. Furthermore, diversified cultural elements and ideas can be incorporated to broaden the connotation and extension of artistic works. You can draw on art forms, styles, and ideas from different cultures and incorporate them into your own works to express richer and more diverse artistic feelings and emotions.

In fact, I am a very introverted person. With the encouragement of my friends, I started sharing some works on social networking sites. At first, it was just to record and urge myself to practice every day. Gradually, some fans paid attention, and even very famous artists in the industry paid attention to my work, which gave me great encouragement and confidence. In the future, I will always maintain my original intention, maintain courage, wisdom, and patience to create more good works.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
When I was a child, I first learned to draw because I was very lively. My mother was afraid that I would develop ADHD, so she sent me to the art teacher downstairs to learn how to draw and meditate. Later, I gradually fell in love with drawing. I remember one time when I was just learning line drawing and pen drawing the whole class went home after class, and I was the only one left to draw a hanging plant. It was a huge challenge for me, and it was unprecedentedly difficult. Later I cried while painting, but after crying I still insisted on finishing the painting. Now that I think about it, it was a very funny and memorable experience. It was also my childhood painting studies that exposed me to a variety of painting methods, such as line drawing, meticulous painting, printmaking, paper-cutting, soap carving, oil pastels, gouache, etc., which enriched my understanding of various media. Knowledge and feeling also unknowingly planted the artistic seeds of this life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstation.com/kicococo
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiconyiamkosduab/