Hey there, how you doing? For those who've met me in real life, I'm Thierry Tran, sometimes Thiet Tran in the eyes of my family. For those that met me online, I'm TheSmilingParadX or ParadX (pronounced as "paradox") for short. My username goes through many iterations, but I eventually stuck with my current name because my love for the concepts of balance and chaos, and art usually helps make sense of that.
I have always known my life to be creatively influenced by the things I have read, watched, and played. So when it comes to it, art gives me a way to turn those experiences into something new I could call my own. Most of my ideas start as small thoughts or scenarios in my head. Over time, I would see that these ideas grow into characters, scenes or stories. Many of my inspirations come from Tokusatsu heroes, mecha designs, and games like Ghost of Tsushima because of their strong visual design for the helmets/masks and armors. In addition, I tend to cling to tender emotions when creating my art.
In my work, I find myself obsessing over masks and how we use them to either access another personality that we rarely use or become a concept foreign to others. In my art, these “masks” take the form of fantastical characters I have created as my pieces tell their own stories through the use of various softwares I have used in recent years, such as Clip Studio Paint. Whenever I find the time, I do plan to experiment with other mediums if it means to see my favored ideas come to life.
