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[HAL_Laboratory]

Holy ****ing shit is all I have to say. The new trailer has a couple of his pieces at the beginning, so I took the liberty of hunting him down.

But here's the thing:

Khang Le (his signature is on the first and second images) shows up in various online credit sources as "Art Director" for Project Offset (including the official website), but this is the only site I could find on the guy. If this site is indeed that of Project Offset's art director -- the guy responsible for these images -- then he's only 21 and goes to a community college in California. Is this for real?

Here are a couple images from his portfolio site:

Now, here's a couple images I found after doing a search for "Khang Le" at Epilogue.net:

His profile at Epilogue reflects the correct age (21) as per credit listings I mentioned above for Project Offset. This last image ^^^ was created when he was 16 years old!

And finally, here's a couple of his images from the trailer:

This guy is coming up. Comparing his art from 5 years ago to today... he's come a long way.

More importantly, he doesn't appear to have had any formal training. Are we looking at the next James Jean of games here?

 

[Y2Kev]

WOW

 

[Wolves Evolve]

Absolutely stunning. The guy understands light and form. Day one hug for me.

 

[The M.O.B]

Must of been born with a pencil in his hand.

He is gonna make it far in the industry,that's for sure.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Looks like offset gots some talent behind it

 

[Alpha&Omega]

must be the fish sauce

 

[Quazar]

Very nice. Want to see more.

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

must be the fish sauce

 

[Tideas]

must be the fish sauce

ban him

 

[Aalyx]

Holy crap... Incredible art. Amazing how much talent goes unseen...

 

[cartoon_soldier]

But his paintings before he becomes famous.

 

[Oneself]

Great! Khang made it to GAF!:lol *summons The Main Event*

He worked on Monster House too by the way.

 

[Tideas]

i wonder, did he do these paintings like in live art? or are these photoshop paintings?

 

[The Main Event]

He's not 21 anymore and he's working full time

HAHA Oneself.

 

[Lostconfused]

Those look amazing. They seem to have so much detail, i wonder how much time he spends on them. Oh and without formal training, man he has a lot of talent.

 

[Psychotext]

That one gives me a real "Beneath a steel sky" vibe. Awesome.

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

He's not 21 anymore and he's working full time

HAHA Oneself.

Interesting. Still, seeing this guy's work makes me want to just throw in the towel and be an insurance salesman or something. :lol

Spoiler

*grabs sketchbook*

 

[Hellraizah]

Khang is the reason the forum needs a :bow emoticon.

I hope SNK Playmore will recruit him as that would be the culmination of his career.

 

[Doc Holliday]

More importantly, he doesn't appear to have had any formal training. Are we looking at the next James Jean of games here?

I believe he's an Art Center grad

 

[Karma Kramer]

I envy him sooo much

 

[sprsk]

Eh, looks like video game concept art.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Screen tearing in that vid, but the art does look nice.

 

[Wolves Evolve]

Eh, looks like video game concept art.

I've thought about it, and I'm still going to say shut up.

Yes its fantasy illustration work, but that a field of intensely competitive artisans, and for a young chap...

... actually... just shut up.

 

[sprsk]

I've thought about it, and I'm still going to say shut up.

Yes its fantasy illustration work, but that a field of intensely competitive artisans, and for a young chap...

... actually... just shut up.

This is a great counterpoint, I find your opinion very interesting.

 

[Ether_Snake]

The stuff done for Project Offset is his best work, the rest is meh. But yeah, what he did for PO is awesome.

 

[Router]

I want this game so badly.

 

[Miroku]

I'm with sporsk. There's a lot of equal to superior work being done out there. Not to take away from Mr. Le, his work is quite nice.

Here's some totally amazing threads of Guild Wars art:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83394

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74118

There's a ton more game concept art at that site, but I'm too lazy to find any more of it right now!

 

[patsu]

Holy Sh*t ! Someone put these things into Playstation Home. No need for back stories or game objectives, just model these things and let me walk through it and chat with them.

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

Holy Sh*t ! Someone put these things into Playstation Home. No need for back stories or game objectives, just model these things and let me walk through it and chat with them.

Heh, is your handle a Laputa: Castle in the Sky reference?

Anyway, yeah -- that would be awesome. :lol Just model the conceptual art and let us walk (and fly) around in those massive environments.

I'm with sporsk. There's a lot of equal to superior work being done out there. Not to take away from Mr. Le, his work is quite nice.

Here's some totally amazing threads of Guild Wars art:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83394

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74118

There's a ton more game concept art at that site, but I'm too lazy to find any more of it right now!

Wow, pretty kick-ass work in those threads. We should just have a massive concept or general art thread for professional industry work or something (no fan-art). Maybe it already exists?

 

[Speevy]

That looks on par with Ratchet and Clank Future.

There's no way it's real.

 

[sedaku]

Shit, he's from Vietnam too, lol.

 

[Kittonwy]

The last three environment pieces were quite good, didn't dig the dragon rider though which looked kind of amateurish. Checked out the site, the character work he did isn't so hot, he can draw some cool environments though.

 

[turk128]

I envy artists with environment/bg/visual development skillz so gotta give the guy props for the good art.

 

[Particle Physicist]

i dont understand how this game doesnt have a publisher.

 

[Hunter D]

Eh, looks like video game concept art.

If he was working on a musou game you would love his work.

 

[Quazar]

i dont understand how this game doesnt have a publisher.

I haven't heard anything element has but I do know they are outsourcing programmers etc. One of my old roomates got a offer to help work on tools. They are funded somewhere. They were going to send code if he accepted package that was offered. He did not.

 

[patsu]

Heh, is your handle a Laputa: Castle in the Sky reference?

Anyway, yeah -- that would be awesome. :lol Just model the conceptual art and let us walk (and fly) around in those massive environments.

Why "Yes !" to both your points. Love that kid in Laputa. His image popped up when I needed a nick. The rest is history (long history).

Sony... or some indie PS Home developer, please do the concept arts. I will pay (a tiny sum) just for the experience. Actually I'm more willing to pay a small guy for this than paying Sony...

Sony, if you're doing this... make it free. ... or mostly free..

Wow, pretty kick-ass work in those threads. We should just have a massive concept or general art thread for professional industry work or something (no fan-art). Maybe it already exists?

 

[sprsk]

If he was working on a musou game you would love his work.

Of course! The old "Well if he was doing something for a game you loved you'd be jizzing!" argument!


Listen, it looks like game concept art, and with that said it doesn't even look like very inspired art. If you watch the game footage you see: the same damn scenery you've seen in every other damn game, pretty bad character design and what is essentially a recration of a "Lord of the Ring's: Return of the King" battle scene.

The guy can draw, thats great, millions of people in this planet can draw, but there is no reason to slob on this guy's knob.

 

[Hunter D]

Of course! The old "Well if he was doing something for a game you loved you'd be jizzing!" argument!


Listen, it looks like game concept art, and with that said it doesn't even look like very inspired art. If you watch the game footage you see: the same damn scenery you've seen in every other damn game, pretty bad character design and what is essentially a recration of a "Lord of the Ring's: Return of the King" battle scene.

The guy can draw, thats great, millions of people in this planet can draw, but there is no reason to slob on this guy's knob.

You admit it!

But seriously, what do you expect him to draw? Its a medievlal times game.

 

[.dmc]

But seriously, what do you expect him to draw? Its a medievlal times game.

That's not the point, the point is that no matter how notionally talented this guy is, there are 100s of them out there in the industry. Which is a cynical point to make, but nonetheless accurate.

 

[DCharlie]

Listen, it looks like game concept art, and with that said it doesn't even look like very inspired art.

then it really WOULD fit in with a musou game then!

 

[sprsk]

then it really WOULD fit in with a musou game then!

What the **** does any of this have to do with musou?

And when was the last time I ever championed the concept art in a musou game?

 

[Wolves Evolve]

He's 21 and untrained, that's why I'm so impressed.

Many of the fantasy illustrators in those links are professionals, with training, with years of experience.

At 21 I was working in a butcher and failing to understand why my burnt disc of WAVs wouldn't play in a car.

 

[DCharlie]

What the **** does any of this have to do with musou?

And when was the last time I ever championed the concept art in a musou game?

we know you have a ... MUSOU ART SECRET!!!

Spoiler

i have absolutely no idea... it's a slow day[/quote]

... i came to edit the tags, i think i like it how it is now...

 

[patsu]

Ok guys, I forwarded the concept art post to the official Playstation blog. Hopefully it piqued their interests.

 

[kenta]

hay sup

 

[muttyeah416]

i've read some comics by him in the Flight series. Good stuff! lots of range of styles. There are four volumes.

 

[Hurricane_Chris]

He's 21 and untrained, that's why I'm so impressed.

Many of the fantasy illustrators in those links are professionals, with training, with years of experience.

At 21 I was working in a butcher and failing to understand why my burnt disc of WAVs wouldn't play in a car.

Rob Liefeld was young and untrained when he was topping the charts with New Mutants/X-Force and hanging out with Spike Lee in Levis commercials....

 

[beat]

Hey, Khang Le's old site is gone! (used to be khangle.net if I remember right.)

ddk, the difference is that Le's a terrific artist and Liefeld was horrendously limited then and now.

 

[Kittonwy]

Rob Liefeld was young and untrained when he was topping the charts with New Mutants/X-Force and hanging out with Spike Lee in Levis commercials....

Liefeld could have used some serious training (or at least take a peek at an anatomy book once in his life), he thought everything was a freakin' oval... probably still does.