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My favorite photo of Gia and me. Gia's on the left.

I had the pleasure of working with Gia Luc, while I was studying at San Jose State University. This mild-mannered, unassuming guy would roll into the animation lab, feast upon a three dollar Vietnamese styrofoam-platter meal with the enthusiasm of a person eating a plate of steak and lobster, and then proceed to blow everybody’s minds with his hardcore drawing and animation skills.

There was one day when he mentioned that he needed more character work in his portfolio. He walked across the room and began quietly drawing in his sketchbook with a pencil. When we went over to bother him, he was drawing these:

Because he had no money, he’d work on the cheapest materials possible. He’d be flipping away on some 8.5” x 11” copy paper and come out with some amazing tests. He produced a ton of great effects and character tests in school, many of which are still on the program reel. This is an effects shot he did for one of our student films:

Slower frame rate than original shot.

He’s helped me on most of my student films, swung in to fire it up on “Flames of Passion” and “Fumi” out of school, and even worked the camera filming my most powerful documentary “Pencil Test of Legend”. He’s saved me on too many occasions to list; Gia is the man!

His hard work and sleep deprivation during school has paid off. So far, he has worked for ILM, Electronic Arts, Z-AXIS (Activision), and is currently working at Sniper Studios in Redwood City, California. Here are just a few samples of his newer work:

Please check out more of Gia’s work on his blog page and his main website

Thanks, Gia!