Meet Gillian Galang | Visual Development Artist and Background Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gillian Galang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gillian, why did you pursue a creative career?
Growing up, I always loved to do art whether it was in the form of crafts, playing the violin, or even poster making back in high school, It gives me so much joy to create and just tell my own stories through art.

Back in college, I decided to pursue an Advertising major under Fine arts, since I was all set to pursue a career as a graphic designer, I discovered the “art of” books in our school library in my second year in college and that gave me the inspiration that I can work in Animation or Games as a concept artist. It felt like discovering those books made me think about wanting to pursue that career more than the graphic or advertising route. So during my free time in college, I would draw backgrounds and explore more about the animation and games industry.

I also began attending a conference in my home country in the Philippines called Icon Manila, where they invite artists from the industry to talk about their experience and demonstrate some of their art processes as well. Armand Serrano was one of the founders of Icon Manila, together with his wife, Bing Serrano who taught about it in the first place. Their event focused on inspiring people who are attendants of their event and giving back to their charities so it’s a nonprofit charity event which is amazing! I have been attending their conferences since 2016 and they always inspire me and make me feel that what I want to pursue is something that is right for me.

It did took me a while to get to where I am but I am proud that I get to become a visual development artist and background painter to this day.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It wasn’t an easy path since Visual Development isn’t an existing career in my country and that job exists on the other side of the world I started with my skills not being on par with the industry.

So it took some rejections from studios that I applied to and some doubts that this may not be for me and that broke me a lot. But this is just something that I always wanted to do so I kept pursuing it even though it wasn’t an easy thing to do since I also need to improve my art skills and background design skills as well. It also took a lot of crying nights and doubts but I think it’s part of the journey to get to where I am and those nights just made me stronger because I believed that having a strong visualization of what you want to achieve, you will get it someday.

So one of the things I did was following specific people who are pursuing the career that I wanted, having genuine connections with them, and learning from their work. I think what also helped me a lot is that I enrolled in Armand Serrano’s Visual Development mentorship in which designing became a hard thing for me to do. I always wanted to do visual development but back then I struggled in designing and when I found out that you can turn designing into a skill, that made me not want to give up pursuing this career.

I love painting backgrounds because I just love doing them more than drawing characters. I think it’s because I always love traveling across my home country and eversince I was young, my family would take me to our province and other places in the Philippines every place tells a history, culture, and everything so I think that’s what inspired me eversince to pursue creating backgrounds.

Back at the start of the pandemic in 2020, I joined Pleinairpril which is an art challenge for the whole month of April where you paint locations and still life. Eversince I joined that challenge, I began to enjoy painting locations and backgrounds more which made me so happy.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would go to Wawa Dam in Montalban Rizal to admire the mountains of Mt. Pamitinan and Mt. Hapunang Banoi, then we can have a coffee break at Kape Siglo where their Kape Yema is amazing, and so is their Palabok and Kangkong chips.

Then the next day we can go to La Union and enjoy the beautiful beaches there because I have been there with my family eversince I was young. Then we would eat at Only Pans and my favorite food there is their Quesadilla Cheese and get coffee at El Union.

In Manila, I can tour you around my university which is the University of Santo Tomas because they have the most gorgeous buildings that I have ever seen. Then we can check out the National Museum and admire Fernando Amorsolo’s paintings.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a shout-out to my partner, Jan Carlo San Pedro, He is also an artist who focuses on character and concept art because he believed in me that I could achieve my goals and be the artist that I wanted to be. Whenever I have doubts about my career, he is always there for me and also helps me with my artwork and concepts from time to time. He is also my personal Art Director which is why I’m very lucky, I love him so much. I also wish him success and may his dreams of becoming a concept artist become real someday.

I also want to give thanks to my lola, Elisa Gilmore, for always supporting me in my art journey eversince I was young, and to my Daddy old, Ephraim Galang, for doing the same but has always believed that I will make it big. I lost both of them in 2023 but I will always dedicate my artworks to them. I always think about them to this day.

I want to thank Armand and Bing Serrano for inspiring me since 2016 to pursue Visual Development and for letting me join his mentorship back in 2022 which helped a lot in my career.

I also want to thank my mother, Jennifer Galang, for just being a great mommy to me and for always being happy with whatever I’m doing in life.

To one of my internet besties, Clarissa Herrera, thank you for being there for me and I’m happy we are friends!

To Studio Heartbreak, thank you for believing in my skills and for also helping me improve! You guys are the best studio!

To Chichilittle, I’m so happy that I got to see your Tumblr when I was 11 years old and you are the first artist that I got inspired to do digital art while using a trackpad on my laptop. Thank you for your art throughout the years. You are amazing to this day.

Website: https://gillian3g.artstation.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gillianthreeg/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillian-galang-1b30991a5/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gillianthreeG

Other: beginner background painting class: https://class101.net/en/products/64269a7132a1f7001581cc1d
contributed a plein air painting tutorial using procreate here: https://store.3dtotal.com/products/a-guide-to-digital-painting-in-procreate-landscapes-plein-air

Image Credits
I wanted to thank my partner, Jan Carlo San Pedro, for taking these photos of me