Biography

Noted for his artwork depicting retro sci-fi, James K. Wong has attributed this interest to an imagination influenced by the beginnings of manned spaceflight around the time of his youth.
James was raised in Sacramento, California and moved to Los Angeles to attend the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he received his BFA with honors. After graduation, James was soon working for Mattel, Inc. illustrating Hot Wheels cars and Landmark Entertainment illustrating themed entertainment and toy concepts. In 1989, he was hired by Walt Disney Imagineering as a show designer. For the years that followed James was tasked with creating a great variety of works: ride design, storyboards, vehicle design, marquees, murals and more. The subject matter he drew and painted varied as widely: dinosaurs, space aliens, early American history, futuristic technology, and others. In 1996 James was hired by DreamWorks in Bel Air, California where he produced traditional concept art and learned computer rendering using 3D Studio Max and Adobe Photoshop. In 1998 James worked at BRC Imagination Arts developing creative ideas and designs on the Space Park Bremen project. He has since been working on gallery paintings and as a freelance designer with clients Walt Disney Imagineering, BRC Imagination Arts, The Disney Stores, Vigon-Ellis, Lightsource Studios, Wizards of the Coast, and Hasbro. His medium for design work is gouache and for paintings is oil on panel. James currently resides in Sacramento, California.