Today we’d like to introduce you to Pong Lertsachanant.
Hi Pong, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hello, I’m Pong! (or Chaowat Lertsachanant, is my official long name). I’m from Thailand. My fate kind of threw me across the pacific ocean to live and work in North America Since 2018. It started from just a kid who doodled in his own bubble, got into the animation industry, and currently working in the game industry on The Sims4 team with Maxis at EA Vancouver. Art has become part of my life now.
First couple steps into the arts:
My art journey actually started from failure. I was trying to get into an architecture school but unfortunately failed because my math was horrible.
Luckily, while I was tutoring for architecture school, I learned great fundamentals and was trained by many good art tutors and mentors back then. All the things I learned brought me to design school at Silpakorn University instead. It is where I had a chance to explore and learn concept art and visual development.
Low and high after I graduated:
After graduation, I got my first job in an animation studio, but it was a storyboard artist position. I wasn’t good at it too much. It kind of ruined my self-confidence bit by bit till I was almost going to quit art forever.
Luckily, I finally landed at Riff Animation Studio where I got my first opportunity as a concept artist position. I gained so much experience from so many talented artists there. It was my first experience working on both animated feature films and animation series projects. The people there are so inspiring. Their compassion for the best quality work slowly transferred to me as part of the team. It was one of the studios I enjoy working with.
New Chapter in the US:
After I had been working for a while and thought that I was so ‘decent’, one of my close friends single-handedly burnt my ego to the ground with his portfolio. He went to study in the US for 3 years, and his skill evolved from Lv.99 to Lv 999. The voice in my head was like “ I’m such a piece of shhhh~” So in 2016, I decided to challenge myself to a bigger ocean.
I went to the US for my master’s degree at the Academy of Arts University to refine my skills. It is where I experienced a lot of ‘Aha!’ moments and learned from many talented classmates and great instructors. They are all super inspiring which becomes my fuel to get better every day.
Luckily, all the support from instructors and my determination had paid off. I had my first opportunity in the US as an intern concept artist at Zynga.Inc.
(Fun fact, one of the Animation series I did at Riff Studio coincidentally perfectly matches the project they were developing at the time. I Can’t thank Riff Studio enough!) It was an awesome first step into the game industry.
After my internship ended, another opportunity came in just on time. My second opportunity in the US was from the EA Maxis team. They found me at the Spring Show 2018 (AAU annual showcase.) and fortunately offered me a concept artist position in The Sims4 team.
I worked with this awesome team in the US for 2 years till my US visa ran out, tried to apply for other visa types but wasn’t successful. So EA transferred me to EA Vancouver in 2021 instead. I am still working remotely for the Maxis from here and this is where the new chapter of my art journey is going so far.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
-The industry wall in the US is pretty thick and even thicker for foreigners.
First thing first, the portfolio has to be super outstanding for them to pick up. Second, as a foreigner, we are most likely to be their alternate choice.
Most companies rarely wanted to deal with all the complicated visa processes. If you are not an outstanding foreigner, it is most likely that they would rather hire local artists or someone else. I have been rejected several times. Sometimes it is simply just because they don’t support visas in the first place. I often felt disappointed in myself and that I would never be good enough for them. It boiled down to the point I realized that being depressed doesn’t help anything anyway. I can only focus on the part I can control which are improving skills, building connections, and keep applying.
– Negative Inner Voice
I consider it a common thing that could happen to many artists. It is the negative inner voice that always tells me that I’m useless and never good enough. I have to deal with the fact that there are always tons of artists that are better than me and I would never catch up with them in my lifetime. However, I actually learned to be friends with it, and use it to push myself forward instead of downward.
– Language barrier
I admit that English is still my second language. There is always room to improve. The biggest problem is that sometimes I speak too long but it needs to be fast and precise in the work environment. I’m still working on it to get better.
– Art skills are an infinity learning curve:
There are always new things to learn in the art world and the more you go up, the more it gets steeper. You have to be constantly developing and practicing for your whole life. Since it is quite a skill base path, it requires time to gradually train yourself. It is like a sport, without training and practicing, your skills could slowly fade away. Although there are so many technologies to help you work faster, that is mean everyone else is going faster as well. It always points back to the fundamentals to have a good artistic sense.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In a nutshell, I’m a visual development artist who focuses on prop & environment design. My technique is mainly digital paintings. I utilized these skills for both my job and my free time personal art.
A day-to-day job I’m doing is called Concept art for entertainment. The job is to visualize from just cloudy ideas into an image. That image would be used to either represent the concept of the final looks of a certain asset but also can explain how it works visually for the production purpose as well.
This job exists to develop and sell the ideas visually, make sure it is appealing, and serve their purpose functionally. It will be approved by directors/clients/producers before someone passes it into production for the final outcome.
It is fun when you see your ideas become real on screens when it’s done, whether it would be animation or game projects.
My personal art style is geared toward cute cartoony painterly with a sprinkle of either weapons or dark humor into it. Aside from that, I usually practice color studies a lot. I found myself enjoying telling stories through color, lighting, and composition. So most of my works are came out as a complete scene or at least a character with a background.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a simple kid raises and born in Thailand who loves to draw. My childhood in my house was quite lonely because of the age/gender gap between siblings/cousins. Maybe that’s why I spent so much time in my imagination bubble and drew a lot. I got inspired by cartoons, toys, games, and life experiences. Art is my way to express whatever inspired me (and got in trouble at school sometimes cuz I drew in books at school). Luckily that my family and friends are always being super supportive of my artistic path.
Personality-wise:
Personality-wise, I feel like I’m a mix of logical traits from my dad and emotional sensitivity from my mom. A bit of a perfectionist and an empathetic person. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that my artistic side is fully from my mom cuz she actually draws!
I did the test and seems to be an extrovert person. I enjoy meeting people and sharing great experiences. I feel like I’m such a dog person who has to behave myself and make sure not to burst into other people’s comfort space. (Sorry in advance, introvert peeps.) The good thing is I have a self-check system like an updated iOS version of myself to gradually fix all my buggy traits. So currently is Pong iOS 2023.
On my Aesthetic side, I’m a color nerd. I appreciate the different lighting situations and sometimes it is attached to my memory of a specific moment. I have been doing a lot of quick color studies and Plein-air painting. Sometimes, I have to keep my observation silent to not look crazy by saying such things as: “look at that nice deep ultramarine blue shadow under that rock in the water…”. I just confirmed my color nerdiness last year by finishing 144 color studies for 2022. (You can check my all color studies on my website pongjeedart.com/studies )
Interested-wise:
painting, dogs, animal facts, music, biology, philosophy, astronomy, space science, war history, and how things work mechanically (especially guns).
Documentaries are also usually my background noise while I’m working. The contents I usually watch or listen to are about those interests above.
I also love action movies and comedy. Maybe that’s the reason I like making dynamic action scenes in my works sometimes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pongjeedart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pongjeed_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pongjeedart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaowat-pong-lertsachanant-2b7a4610a/
