Meet Hoi Ching Ng | Concept Artist and Background Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hoi Ching Ng and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hoi Ching, why did you pursue a creative career?
My parents sent me to a bunch of interest classes since kindergarten. Drawing is one of the few that I still enjoy a lot after all these years. I simply liked it when I was a kid because I could draw my favorite cartoon characters and get compliments from my parents. Then, as I grow up, drawing has been a means to visually present my imaginary world and communication. Aside from gaining satisfaction from it and the pure enjoyment, as I grew up watching animation, I wanted to be a part of creating it too, specifically animated feature films. Therefore, I am hoping to work as a concept artists or background painter after I graduate from school.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am currently a Junior at Savannah College of Art and Design with a major in 2D Animation. While, I decided to focus more on concept art and background painting in Fall 2023. Being a 2D animator has been my dream job since middle school as I enjoyed watching anime and was the reason that I decided to study abroad. However, I realized the limited job opportunities in the field and how competitive the position is, I decided to switch to concept art and background painting which I enjoyed even more and is where my strength at. I spent my winter break and winter quarter creating portfolio work and rebuilding my website which brought me the opportunity to work as a lighting artist at SCAD Animation Studios in the spring quarter and a 2D Graphic artist position at idNerd Studio ( an animation studio in Hong Kong) this summer. Throughout this process, I learned not to be afraid of trying out new things and hard work might not pay off immediately, but it will be recognized.

Being an international student can be challenging. Taking care of myself in a foreign country far from home added more stress to schoolwork. Finding housing and dealing with student visa are more complicated than I thought it would be. In addition, it took me some time to get used to living in the United States. Growing up in Hong Kong brings me some inspiration in my art journey. A recent concept art piece about a futuristic city ( I uploaded the picture in the session later) , is inspired by my home. In the illustration, the old owner of the car repair shop was making egg waffles instead of doing his job and his granddaughter gets annoyed. Egg waffles is one my favourite street food in Hong Kong. Although I am not a fan of the crowded city, I thought how densely packed the old residential buildings are was very cool. The stacked buildings in the background are inspired from Kowloon Walled City.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Origin Coffee Bar has been my favorite hangout spot and with my friends and study spot recently. I liked the cozy white furniture and the large glass windows. Their coffee and mochi donuts are amazing too.

E Shaver Booksellers is a local bookstore with cats. The fluffy cats roam freely in the bookstore and are very friendly. You can also see signs sticked on the window side where one of the cats usually takes naps at said do not disrupt the cat’s beauty sleep.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to thank my parents for being my greatest supporters in my art career both emotionally and financially. Without them, I would not be able to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and learn from industry professionals or meet a group of talented and nice classmates. I understood that in my parents’ perspective, it was a hard decision to send their daughter to a place that is a 22-hour flight away from home which none of us had ever been to.

Also, I would like to shout out to my classmates and friends at Savannah College of Art and Design. Although I am studying what I am passionate about, sometimes the tremendous amount of school work can be stressful, I would like to thank my friends and my work buddies at Montgomery Hall. The parking lot walks and grabbing snacks from the vending machine made pulling an all-nighter at school way better. In spring quarter, I was fortunate to be joining SCAD Animation Studios as a Pantheon lighting artist. I would like to shout out to the crew and our Professor John Webber for working on “Time Flies”, a hybrid animated short film, where I meet the most inspiring and talented artists at SCAD. For more information about the film, here is our instagram page https://www.instagram.com/timeflies.film/

Website: https://hoichingng.myportfolio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/0.zer0_art/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoi-ching-ng-/