The Art of Pierre Nguyen

Visual Development

This senior project depicts the story of being an international student in a foreign country. Having just recently lost his mother, the main character, who has always felt a disconnection from his roots and culture, set out to celebrate Tet, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year, as a way to honour his mother’s memories. Facing embarrassment, guilt and grief, the protagonist now has to find a way to overcome everything and find joy again in the spirit of the holiday.

I primarily explored this project in two parts. The first one focuses on the design aspect of storytelling, and the second emphasizes on the depiction of colour and narrative sequences.

For the second part of this project, I decided to explore the travelling aspect of being an international student. A lot of the time, being foreign means having to travel between countries, which is a nerve-wracking thing to do, even more when it would be your first time doing so by yourself. With that said, I depicted that universal experience through the context of the airport, combining both my own experiences as well as my friends and people I know to convey a narrative sequence that hopefully speaks and relates to all who have gone through similar notions.

P/s: I added my own silly touch to this project, which is the presence of ducks among all of the paintings. To me, they are kinda like children in the airport, all sweet and adorable but also at the same time can annoy the heck out of you when you’re just trying to rest in between your layover or waiting for your flight. See how many ducks you can spot in each of the paintings :>

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An ancient Taoist who accidentally time travels to the modern day now requires the help of a young scout boy in order to navigate this strange new life and find a way to gather back his power to return home

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