This time round for the art section of Masses, we got Tintoy Chuo to share his thought as well as more of his recent live painting at Kinokuniya Bookstore in KLCC. The painting was done in conjunction with Star Wars Day, May 4th, a.k.a. “May the fourth be with you”. Created in the span of three hours (inclusive of a KitKat break), the painting is of 80 x 60 cm. Chuo applied acrylics using palette knives and paint brushes to make the Star Wars character come to live.
Can you tell us more about this painting?
It is a piece of my live painting which i did in conjunction with Star Wars Day, where I am trying to express the tension of General Grievous getting ready to fight with all his 4 lightsabers.
Why did you choose to draw an evil character, General Grievous?
I did not just choose evil/good character; I choose him this time because I feel that I can express this character.
Do you support the Dark Side? :O
I support anything that is cool, not only dark side (it happens that many of the cooler looking characters/vehicles are on the dark side).
Which is your favourite episode of Star Wars?
Well it will be ROTJ (Return of the Jedi) because we can really see the real ending of the whole story. Another reason is: I think I had depression after watching ESB (Empire Strike Back) when I was still a little kid. It was such a BIG impact for me to see good guys lose (Han got captured, Luke lost his right arm, Rebel is losing…). I believe I had a couple of dark and sad childhood years because of this, so when ROTJ was out, I got sooooo relieved, watching it. Boy, I smiled for the first time after many years.
If you could be a character in Star Wars, who would it be and why?
( PS. You can come up with your own character! 🙂 )
When I was a kid, I would have loved being a jedi, so it will be Luke Skywalker, haha.
Back to art, what is your favourite medium?
I have been a digital artist for years, so a Macintosh with Photoshop will be my usual choice. But in the recent years, I have started to develop liking for traditional mediums, which are palette knife with acrylic. I’ll tell you, a palette knife is like a lightsaber, it is an elegant weapon and hard to master but I love the stroke effects that it produces, so I decided to paint more with it.
It is great to get back to traditional mediums where I am REALLY painting stroke by stroke. It feels good as I can touch the uneven layers of dry paint.
Who are some of your favourite artists?
Ashley Wood,
I love his style very much and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) too.
And of course I am a fan of our local artists such as: Tan EngHuat, Sheldon Goh and Michael Chuah C2V.
Do you have any events/projects that you are currently/will be involved in?
I’ll continue to paint more with palette knife, I’m kinda in love with it now.
Now I am planning for a series which I codenamed “Super Xpression’ (a name yet to be finalized), where I paint superhero/villain in a very expressive, bold and exasperate manner. I want to challenge myself by painting on an extra large canvas (so, I am currently searching for bigger knifes).
Well, I always say this: “Do what you do best and do it best!” It just means to ask yourself what do you really like to do (type of work, type of style, type of media) and do the best out of it.
If you could, could you share a quick sketch with the readers?
OK, maybe I’ll share another piece I have done with everyone here, the GIPSY DANGER of Pacific Rim.
Tintoy Chuo is the brainchild of the award-winning company: Actiontintoy Design Laboratory. Besides character design and a true artist, he is also a game concept designer as well as a producer for an upcoming fusion wayang kulit project. Chuo also aids in promoting and increasing awareness about the Malaysian design industry and gives talks nationally to share his valuable insight about character design.
Keep in touch with Tintoy Chuo through Facebook and YouTube. To see more of his work, check out his website.
