BOLD STROKES

Artist Phua Juan Yong emulates the approach of traditional artists into something digital and even more fantastic.

- Bryan Goh

IT IS HONESTLY QUITE AMAZING HOW ONE CAN LOOK AT YOUR PAINTINGS AND ASSUME IT IS PAINTED ON CANVAS.

Phua Juan Yong: Thanks! That’s definitely what I’ve been working to achieve in my practice recently. I’ve put in quite a bit of time observing the works of traditional masters, studying the subject matter, texture, lighting and so on, and then striving to achieve a similar emotion through digital means.

Part of me has always wanted to be an oil painter, just the idea and romanticism of being one. Maybe one day when carpal tunnel from clicking my mouse all day sets in…

WERE YOU A TRADITIONAL PAINTER OR WERE YOU ALWAYS INTERESTED IN THE NOW OF DIGITAL PAINTING?

I studied graphic design and majored in illustration so I dabbled in digital painting then, but I never trained in traditional painting. What I do now, though, isn’t quite digital painting — I know it’s often quite confusing. While the end product often resembles a painting, there is no actual painting involved. I work primarily on 3D software (Cinema4D, Redshift) to create my images, then process them with Photoshop.