As you many of you know, I like to browse the pages of Deviantart to find hidden talent that the rest of the world may not be aware of. I am a huge fan of comic art whether it was done by a professional or a hobbyist makes no difference to me. If the art is good, it’s goo that plain and simple. Well, one day I came across this piece done as a “tribute” for the upcoming Flash TV series (above image) and I was intrigued. So, I decided to look at the artist’s portfolio even closer and I liked what I saw and I knew my fellow NERDs would to. So, I messaged the artist known as DemonX01 on deviantart and the result is this interview. So, sit back and enjoy the show.
1. Who are you and where are you from?
My name’s Eric Chung and I’m from Toronto, Canada, and I’m a student at the University of Toronto, majoring in human biology.
2. I just love your style! When did you discover your art style?
Thanks! I’m actually in the process of slowly ‘rediscovering’ my style right now, after going on hiatus for a couple of years. I’m self-taught from reading comics here and there; I was originally really influenced by Mark Bagley from his run on Ultimate Spider-man when I was about 12, then I picked up a bit of Jim Lee after reading the Batman: Hush story line about a year later. Lately, I’ve been doing a bit of portraiture, so I’ve begun to incorporate more realism when in comic illustrations, especially in the faces.
3. By looking at your art, I would say you are comic book fan. Who is your favorite character to draw?
Either Spider-man or Batman. The former because he can be drawn in a lot of dynamic and acrobatic poses, and the latter because of how strongly chiaroscuro lighting can work to enhance his dark character, and set the mood of the illustration as a whole.
4. What inspired you to do the Yeah, I Can Fly Iron Man piece? I think it is just brilliant!
Oh man, that piece is old, I think I drew that back when I was about 14 years old? Both the title and the piece were references to the first Iron Man movie, which had come out a year before. The title is a quote from when Tony first tries out his thruster boots in his garage, and the illustration is based on the fighter jet chase scene; both can be seen in the trailer.
5. Where can my readers see your art?
I have a couple of pages, I try to update them when I’m not occupied with school and whatnot:
website: ericchun8.wix.com/ericchung
deviantART: demonx01.deviantart.com/ (don’t mind the name, I made it back when I was about 12 haha)
tumblr: eric-chung.tumblr.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ericchungart
Behance: www.behance.net/_ericchung
6. Do you have anything you would like to promote right now?
Nothing at the moment, but I have a couple of ideas floating around for the future, so the best I can probably say is to stay tuned.
7. What is your favorite project that you have done?
Probably the Iron Man piece; it’s 5 years old but it still holds up against a lot of my recent illustrations and I still keep it in my portfolio. But as I’m starting to get back into more comic-type illustrations, especially with digital painting, I’m starting to lean a bit more towards those.
8. What are your plans for the future?
My mindset is pretty much aiming as high as I can and see where it takes me, and I’m currently interested in emergency medicine. But I’ve been thinking of putting out an art book or having a table at a convention in the future, and I always wanted to go into animation when I was younger, so I try to keep those in mind. I’ve also been thinking of taking some actual illustration courses at some point, since I’m self-taught.
9. Besides art, do you have any other hobbies?
School tends to take up a good chunk of my time, but I do a daily 5K run and I used to do youth triathlons. I volunteer at a hospital, and I’m starting to volunteer with St. John Ambulance. I also enjoy listening to music, like Daughter, The xx and Coldplay to name a few groups, and I love listening to covers on Youtube.
10. If you could do promo art for any project, what would it be?
I’m pretty open for any comic-based movie or TV series, even animation. I think it would be pretty cool if I got to illustrate a tie-in miniseries for a show or video game, like the Injustice prequel. I’m a pretty big fan of CW’s Arrow, and Stephen Amell actually used one of my illustrations as his cover photo on Facebook a while ago, so that was a pleasant surprise.
