ABOUT
“The light shines upon those who embrace the challenge.”
Jonathan Lai is a visual designer, animator, artist, creative director, and filmmaker for film, tv, animation, and gaming.
Jonathan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Vancouver, BC. Being heavily influenced by design, music, animation, photography, film, and video game. Whether it’s from the East or West, It’s the earnestness and passion from the creators that intrigues Jonathan. Connecting him on an emotional level in terms of storytelling and art direction. Having the experience of different cultures allowed Jonathan to have bountiful inspirations collectively.
Through the process, Jonathan discovered there shouldn’t be a restriction or limitation on how you want to tell a story. Regardless of tools, the medium should always communicate an emotional experience that furthers or enhances the story.
With over 5 years of dedicated experience in the games / film industry. Jonathan worked for Blackbird Interactive where he was invited on the ride to the cinematics team to create Homeworld: Shipbreakers now known as Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, an epic prequel to the Homeworld Saga. He then was introduced to the talented folks at Nimble Collective, now known as – AWS: Amazon Nimble Studio on a short animated film project, Sunny and Gerd. Moving forward, he took an adventurous transit to Relic Entertainment as a Presentation Designer & Cinematic Artist for Age of Empires IV. At this very moment, he is now cooking a few exciting projects with the great folks at Square Enix Montreal as a Brand & Visual Designer.
In his spare time, Jonathan continues to explore the realm of creativity. Stay tuned for his upcoming personal project.
RECOGNITIONS