Shavonne Wong creates incredibly realistic renderings that stare out of the screen, with such fidelity it seems that at any moment they may speak. I saw her work online and wanted to hear more about the process.

Shavonne, can you introduce yourself to our audience? Your name, where you are from, and the medium you work in?

My name is Shavonne and I'm a fashion and advertising photographer from Singapore. I've been doing photography for the last 10 years but decided to pivot over to 3D last year April when photoshoots were no longer allowed due to COVID. I figured if I can't work with real models, I'll just create my own!

What a great way to turn a difficult situation into something productive and creative. Was that a difficult transition to make or did your knowledge from photography transfer over into the 3D realm? What programs have you found useful over this past year?

Surprisingly, the creative transition from photography to 3D itself was not too far a leap as a huge amount of the skills were very transferable, such as lighting, composition, camera lens, etc. The difficulty mainly came from the technical side of trying to figure out the different 3D software and all the different learning curves that came with it. I've watched more tutorials in the last year than I would have ever expected to in my lifetime! I got to try out quite a big range of software during this period but have finally settled on Character Creator, Zbrush, Substance and Blender as my main workflow.

Let's chat a bit about the rising NFT space here. I've found so many amazing artists through this growing community, it's incredible to see the explosion of creativity spurred on by this new technology. What has been your experience so far? What are your hopes for this new space?

My experience has been amazing. This is probably the most non-toxic creative community I've ever been part of. Everybody supports each others art and is willing to help out one another with feedback or sharing. I also love how the community is a mixed bag of different kinds of arts, not just locked into a certain genre or medium. It has allowed me to come across so many more artists that I would otherwise have never known!

Hope wise, I obviously hope everybody just gets rich and we can all live happily ever after with our NFTs, but realistically, the scene is likely going to get so saturated that there will be artists who spend hundreds and above minting their work never to see a single cent in return. I hope that even after that period is over, that majority of the artists still chooses to push through and stay on because I really do believe that NFTs are part of the future.

I agree, I love the community most of all, and it definitely is a bit of a gold rush- but I hope that frenzy settles into a sustainable ecosystem that we can really use to uplift the creative class and value artists at a much higher level in our society.

Yeah it will have to stabilize eventually. I look forward to when creatives finally know how much their work is worth so the clients will have to up their budgets or they wont have anyone good left to work with!

Do you remember a specific moment in your life where you realized you wanted to pursue a creative career? What drives you to make the work you make?

I've always been a creative, even as a kid. I used to draw a lot, even though I seem to have completely lost that skillset. My parents were very strict but thankfully not too traditional in the sense of wanting to control my career path. It was probably always obvious that I would be heading towards to creative direction so it never came as a shock to anyone.

My parents always put more attention in making sure that if I was going to do something, I was to give it my very best. To have given my best and fail is one thing, but to not try at all is worse. To be completely honest, I think part of it is also knowing that I love being a creative, and failing could mean a 9-5 job that I might hate.

Yes, it’s important to love what we do for work since we spend so much time doing it. Any advice for someone earlier in their creative journey? Something maybe you wish you knew earlier?

Quoting Nike, just do it. You want to try something? Just start. Stop thinking about it, stop considering your options, stop daydreaming about what if, and just start. In year 2021, all the information we want is so easily accessible. Without diving in and giving it a shot, you'll never know if it could work or not.

Also, asking is free. I know we all have imposter syndrome and I know we all are socially awkward creatures. Or maybe it's just me, haha, but in the recent years I've learnt that if you don't ask, you will never know what their response will be. I've had doors open and opportunities given to me just because I was willing to start the conversation. In the end, it's just remembering everybody is human, even on the pedestal we put them on. Just like us, they too have to eat, sleep... and shit :)

Thank you so much for speaking with me today! I really look forward to seeing how this work develops. To the reader, follow Shavonne on her Twitter to keep updated on her creative world.