Alon Chou was born in Taiwan in 1978.  During his high school years he studied advertising design at a professional school, but for university, because of his interest in drawing, he selected to major in art at the National Taiwan University of Art.  At university Alon learned the techniques of traditional drawing, oil painting, sketching and water color. He took his first job at the Taiwan game company, XPEC, where he began learning to use 3D Max to create low-poly character models.  At XPEC he was involved in a couple of projects doing mainly 3D works and had several chances to do some 2D design and illustration. After two years at XPEC Alon quit the corporate life and now concentrates on 2D works as a freelance artist.

IT’S ART:  Could you describe for us your painting style?

Alon Chou: For me digital tools are just that, tools, and I really think of myself as more of a traditional artist.  What I want to express in my art is similar to the dramatic appeals in traditional drawings. I always hope to have a complete composition and plot.  As for the contents of paintings, I wish to start with the emotions of daily life because we humans have all sorts of feelings. Anything picked up from daily life has the chance of becoming a touching piece of art work.  Therefore, if there’s people involved in the work, I will make the emotion I want to express as the starting point.

 As for my techniques for showing expression and emotion, I always try to be as realistic as possible.  Realism for me has many definitions. For example, it could be being real in expressing technique or being close to daily life in reality. Showing the emotions we experience in life is close to reality, so that is a form of realism too, even if the character is in some kind of fantasy world.  I’m not limited to certain topics, I can go from western to oriental, ancient periods to sci-fi, and I want to try them all. I hope to have the chance to touch many different topics and to create heart moving artworks in the future.

 IA: Tell us a little more about your creative process?

AC: During the first steps of creating piece I always decide on the content of the story, like how it occurred.  At the same time I will think about three important points: where is he, what is he doing and what is he thinking.  Take my work “Girl Chasing” for example, he is in the coffee house, playing a poker game and thinking about what? Who knows, maybe it’s not that simple….

 Second, I decide how to present the picture, should the color tone be cold or warm, should it be tense or funny.  Usually when ideas come to me there will be an immediate scene or expression that appears to my heart and mind and I will quickly make a rough sketch for future reference.  In all stages of a painting I am constantly looking for references and for sources of inspiration.  Sometimes while searching for references I will also sort out my thoughts. Occasionally, the new data I find while researching will give me something I haven’t thought about before. have the habit of doing a black and white composition first so the light tones will not be too different in the end.  Then I finish with most of the base coloring and the details.

 My last step is usually the overall mood adjustment.  I maybe adjust the overall light and contrast due to the need to create more tension, or find I maybe need to be more lucid somewhere. Drawing is not a very complicated process; it’s just carrying out what you have in mind from the beginning.