Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Luong.
Thomas, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up, I have always been drawn to animated shows and movies. Shows like Dragon Ball, Assassination Classroom, Regular Show, and Amazing World of Gumball were a big part of my childhood. But there was a show that changed the trajectory of my life, and it was called RWBY, a 3D action anime that I was completely obsessed with. I loved everything about it, until Volume 4 was released. I was furious about the drop in quality, and I remember thinking, “I could make this better than them.” So I started learning Blender and tried to remake it myself. I ended up never finishing that remake, but that moment of frustration lit a fire in me. I fell in love with 3D art, and that changed my entire life’s path.
I came to the University of Texas at Austin originally to study 3D art with the goal of creating models and animations for games and animated films. Then I stumbled into a class about live events and 3D projection mapping, which made me feel another spark in me. I went deep into the live events world, learning to operate the Hog4 console, and spent lots of time designing lighting for live events. There’s something visceral about designing an experience people feel in real time.
But my roots in digital art never left me. I found myself with a passion project, an indie game called SRB. Building that game made me fall in love with game development in a way I hadn’t anticipated. It showed me that everything I’d done, like the 3D art, lighting design, visual storytelling, etc., had bled into making games.
So I now do both contracting lighting design and crew work, while developing games and leading my own studio, Chili Cowboy Studio, and a solo indie dev studio in the future. I live in both worlds, and I love both of them dearly. I just graduated the college, and I plan to make a lot of extraodinary art for the world to see.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My path was anything but a smooth road. My first real struggle was losing my passion early on. My first two years of college studying 3D art made me hit a wall. My spark for 3D was fading, and I had a hard time continuing to learn 3D as it is such a competitive industry. That feeling of lost spark was a scary place to be when your whole identity is tired of being a creative person. I was in limbo, pursuing what I thought I wanted, but then feeling disconnected.
Switching to lighting design pulled me out of that. It reignited something in me, and at the time, I thought I was going to become a lighting designer exclusively. I built real friendships and connections, and got opportunities to pursue the path. I had a lot of momentum. Then I came back to digital art to build SRB, and suddenly I was facing an internal struggle. I had something real going on in live events, and for a while, I genuinely didn’t know which direction was right for me.
I eventually realized that I didn’t have to choose. Both art forms are part of who I am, and trying to cut one off would tear my identity into pieces. So I stopped treating it like a conflict and started treating it like an advantage, a time period, and just that I wanted to make art. Right now, I am building game studios, but I hope to get back into live events later. Honestly, I think being pulled in two directions made me more intentional about everything I create.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At my core, I am a 3D artist and lighting designer. I specialize in Blender, Unity, and Hog4. I am known for creating lighting visuals for raves and concerts, and my general 3D art skills. As a game developer, being able to handle the art side myself means I can realize a vision without waiting on someone else to execute it. For lighting design, I have studied and spent a lot of time looking at raves and concerts to better understand how lighting affects people. I am most proud of working on 40 acres Mikufest at UT and building my game studio, Chili Cowboy Studio. Lighting design for Mikufest was my first time busking and creating a visual all by myself. I learned so much, and it turned out well. Building Chili Cowboy Studio is also an amazing milestone for me and seeing how it slowly builds up to a passion project of mine.
What matters most to you?
What matters the most to me is the art itself. I care about the passion, the uniqueness, and the creative soul behind it. I think a lot fo people get caught up in the outcome, like the numbers and recognition, and there is nothing wrong with that. I also want to create something grand and make a legacy, but I truly care about the art itself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tuockhanhluongportfolio.com/
- Instagram: tk.thomass
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-luong-9b4333295
