Five Minutes with Hoang Minh Le

With this article we’ll start a series of Interviews with inspirational and amazing artists of the digital and traditional world. The first interview of this series is with the Asian Digital Artist and Photographer Hoang Minh Le, known also as Aurory. He rocks the world with his amazing and truly realistic digital paintings, and his fashion photos. He give also a lot of help to the artists community with his really interesting tutorials.

He used to represents beautiful and amazing girls in a great realistic way. He’s really talented, and is a referring inspirational point for many young artists.

In this article we will discover more of his world, his life, his working process and his art.

- Hello Hoang, please give us a little introduction of yourself.

Well, I’m Hoang Le.

I’m an asian guy. I’m 25 on 20th December ^^.

I’m interested in digital art, digital painting and photography are the best.

My English is not good, I’m sorry if you can’t understand . So SMS me at yahoo : theaurory if you want to make it clear .

- How do you get started to the world of art and digital painting? Did you attend any art school?

I began to draw when I was a child. I usually imagined everything in my eyes and played with myself alone. It’s freaky huh? So that’s why I can learn digital art by myself.

I also studied at Art University and my major is Graphic Design, when I was 18. But not so long I felt it was boring and found that the education here was not good for me, so I quitted.

And I started my first job as a manga artist and then as a pixel artist. Recently as a digital artist.

- Are there some artists who influenced you? Do you have some idols?

Actually, I didnt know digital painting at first. A friend showed me some paintings of many artists and I was impressed by Linda Bergkvist ( [link] ).

I ever wished to be good as her. I tried my best to do her style. But one day I realized that trying to be someone is not good and I was just her copy.

So I decided to do something new and now I have my own style. I always try my best to make everything perfect if it’s possible.

My idols ? People who do anything that I can’t do are my idols

- What about your passion for photography ?

I like beauty and like to make people and everything become beautiful.

I like to discover beauties that people don’t realize that they’re existing.

I like to make new beauties in cover magazine, poster.

I like lighting, colors …

So that is why I love digital painting and photography. That is the way I show and express myself.

- How do you define your style?

I just do what I feel and think. I follow my emotions.

So that is me and you can see my soul in my artworks.

- You said you are a 2D graphic artist working in Gameloft company: how does your usual working day look? Does your job influence your personal artworks, and help you improving your style?

Well now I don’t work at Gameloft anymore. But my pixel work helped me alot.

Well imagine that you have to draw in a very small size but you can keep enough its details. That makes you have to focus and survey in details.

Of couse my job influences and helps me so much.

- Is there a significant moment of your life, where you discovered you want to be an artist?

When I’m sad, happy, angry … I do art to express my feeling and relax. I feel happy and excited when people look at their photos and say that they’re beautiful … I spend almost my life with art and it’s my life.

- Do you remember the very first time you draw? How much time you needed to improve your skills?

When I was a child, about 5 or 6 years old. Anywhere, anytime if I can draw. My table was always full of my drawings when I was a pupil and student

- Do you think that attending an art school is essential for an artist?

Well not really, if you don’t have gift but love art, you should go to art school. Or if you can learn by yourself, just buy some books and research tutorials online.

But school gives you the basics, so I think you should.

- Let’s go to some technical questions now: it seems that your digital paintings are similar to your photos: amazing beautiful girls and a great realism, isn’t it? How do you learn the way to create such similar textures?

As i said, I love to make new beauties, so you can see that almost beautiful girls in my artworks.

To do real textures, you have to survey in details, capture exactly features and combine 2 elements : colors and lighting.

- Talk us something about your workflow: how much time you need to complete an artwork, from the beginning to the final touches?

Well, time depends on every artwork, about the complication, details and my interest.

First, I have to have idea, feeling, inspiration and health.

Then, I make the sketch or line art first. You can do directly on ur PC or on a paper with pencil.

You start to paint with basic colors for background, skin, eyes, lip … define the light sources.

Next you paint it and make texture.

Check and fix your artwork at last.

- What kind of tools you use during your workflow? Standard or custom brushes?

I use Photoshop CS 2 with wacom tablet.

I use Standard brushes in PS.

- Where do you get inspiration for your amazing works?

Everything in life

- Do you need to use some references for your works?

Yep, sometimes with some strange poses, strange things that i dont know how to make it exactly.

- Have you got a traditional sketchbook, which you fill with your inspirations, or do you start a new artwork digitally?

No I dont have traditional sketchbook, I keep my inspirations in my head and let it out when I do artwork.

- How do you understand that your artwork is finished, complete, and doesn’t need any other touches and details?

When I feel tired and feel that I can’t do anything to make it better, it means it’s finished.

I’m not always satisfied with my artworks. Nothing is perfect right? And I will fix my faults later or in next artwork. Cause everyday when I see it again, I just can find my faults.

- Is there something in particular that you want to improve in your style, or something else you want to learn to do in the future?

Well I will learn more 3D, movie effect, making commercial film … I dont know when I will finish all pheww …

- Your tutorials are really “famous” and really useful, will you do other videos or written tutorials for us?

Glad to hear that they are useful. I will do more tutorials soon, cause last time I quitted my old job and have a new one, so I’m busy with moving to a new company and doing new projects. Now it’s stable so I will have some free time to do my own.

- Are there any books or websites that you want to recommend to people who are learning digital or traditional painting?

Except Deviantart, I see that GFXArtist and CGSociety have many good tutorials. You should visit them.

- Please, tell us something about your favourite artwork from your own gallery.

BEAUTIFUL KILLER is my first realistic artwork with skin texture. And I did it after my grandmom’s funeral. She always wants to see my new artworks when they’re finished and supports me. Although she’s not here anymore but I think she can see them from the heaven.

PEACE is the artwork I did with my new skin texture. Moreover, I redid it from an artwork I worked for a client that their artist used it and retouched it.

Then he posted it and said that he did it all. I was angry and disappointed when that guy I have ever teach him then he treated me like that.

I posted that old artwork to prove that I made it but that client sent an email warning me and asked me to take it down. Then I made PEACE by the sketch from that old artwork to show them that stuffs are always mine because I made it.

- Have you ever thinked about making a book with your photos and artworks?

Yep, I have. But when I have good conditions.

- Lastly, can you give some suggestions to people who are starting and learning digital painting?

Your passion is the most important. When you have it, you can do anything you want.

But remember to keep your health good.

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