Saata Bangura
Creative Director
Art Director
Fine Artist
Graphic Designer
The-Long Ly
The-LongLy is a visual development artist who specializes in storytelling through the powerful vibrant colors in her sketches. Graduated from an Animation art school in Paris, France. He has worked on animation short film as a visual development artist, focusing on storytelling and colors! He loves cats, rain, and boba tea!
Q
How do you select and combine which moment in life you want to immortalize with your art and how do you fuse fictional and nonfictional aspects in your designs?
The-Long Ly: I love selecting little random moments of my daily life which I think will resonate as well with other people. I also love to express some of the (late-night) thoughts I usually have in my head. As for the fictional and nonfictional aspects, when I’m painting I usually keep the background as real/credible as possible but I might change the lighting or the characters depending on what I want to convey.
Q
When did you pick up drawing as a lucrative career for the first time?
The-Long Ly: I joined an art animation school just after high school when I was 18, after a year of discovering all the different aspects of the industry I decided to specialize in concept art. I graduated at the age of 22 and took my first steps in the industry after that.
Q
How does travel influence your art and which destinations do you hope to travel to next?
The-Long Ly: Traveling has had a really big influence on my art. I love seeing how people and life can be different depending on where you are in the world. Discovering new landscapes I’ve never seen before is also a big inspiration for me. I think it’s also one of the best ways to create memories that I can paint later on.
In a more personal way, it also helps me to take a step back from my daily routine and clear my thoughts so I can calmly decide where I want to go with my art.
As for the destinations I hope to travel to next, I want to visit Japan or Korea one day! Especially North Europe like Sweden or Norway would be a potential destination on my travel list.
Q
What role do nature and seasons play while creating an art piece and how do you capture the essence of a particular aspect of nature or season in your art?
The-Long Ly: I love adding a bit of nature-inspired aspects in all my pieces, it usually makes my scenes more credible and I love the way nature can freely grow wherever she wants to. Mainly, seasons also have an important influence on my art, I love to associate a particular season with what I paint.
I think it gives it a realistic touch and people can easily relate to their own life when they look at my art. Thinking about those late summer nights hanging out with friends, or the warmth of being home during a snowing night in winter.
Q
How do video games become a source of inspiration to create inspired art pieces based on a theme?
The-Long Ly: I used to play a lot of video games when I was a teenager, I think it taught me a lot about storytelling and the importance of prolonging the same theme for a long period
Q
How long does it take to complete a piece of art?
The-Long Ly: I try not to spend too much time on a piece since I prefer having a more spontaneous approach and focusing on the essentials so I can move quickly on to another piece!
It usually takes me a few hours to complete a piece, depending on what I want to paint and how much it motivates me.
Q
How can an art piece effectively convey a story to the audience?
The-Long Ly: People need to be able to relate to what you want to convey. I’m spending a lot of time just thinking in my head what I could paint which would talk to me and the same can talk to the other people who will come across my art. I think it also needs to be genuine, it doesn’t need to be overly epic or dramatic all the time, most of the time it’s the simple moments that count.
Q
What is the role of your love for rain being featured in your art?
The-Long Ly: I always had an affinity with water and especially for rain, it makes me calm and serene so I can clear my head and think of nothing and focus on the task at hand. I think that’s the case for a lot of people so I love painting rainy sceneries from time to time.
Q
Which medium, tools, and software do you use to create the art pieces?
The-Long Ly: I am used to working digitally. Most of the time I’m using Photoshop but I sometimes use Procreate or HeavyPaint when I’m sketching for practice purposes.
