My first drawing when I was a child was that of a sea urchin. Not long after that I began to doodle about power rangers, mask riders, digimon and Pokémon, just like any other boy would do. It was during this time that I discovered I had the knack for drawing. That wasn’t surprising, considering my father was a draftsman and artist as well. So every afternoon at my grandmother’s place I would come up with wild adventures of monsters and action heroes and such, illustrating them on paper. However, my real interest in art began in the later part of secondary school, when I began to use images from fantasy art into my art exams and coursework.
The biggest inspiration for me would be from a game I picked up in primary school which is Magic: the Gathering. The great thing about this card game was that on every single card there is an awesome piece of artwork. There were dragons, knights, elves, goblins, warriors, spells and whatnot which greatly reminded me of my childhood. Then I decided that my dream was to in the future, illustrate a card for Magic. And from then on I began to find out more about fantasy art.
What I hope to learn in NAFA are all the proper techniques that are involved in producing artwork, for example, basic painting techniques. I also hope to cultivate a stronger creative and analytical mind, to see the world in a different way and using that, produce art in a different perspective. I like the notion of having no right or wrong answers, where everything is an expression of thought. I like to create funny and weird images but I want to create them as realistic as possible. That’s where NAFA comes into play. With the correct techniques I should be able to pull it off. Imagine painting elephant people but with the realism of mannerism.
After my diploma would be a degree I guess, because that’s more credible I think. Most people look at certification when it comes to employing people but there are some cases where they select you purely by portfolio. There were this point of time I was thinking of going into teaching art, because I thought it was a more stable job and well, this is Singapore right? I haven’t thought of anything in the long term but that’s because it’s just me. I tend to adopt a ‘go with the flow’ attitude, which might get me into trouble some day. And my father, Darth Vader, is now suggesting I aim for Lucas Studios because he is a big fan of Star Wars and whatnot and he also recognises that I am part geek as well.
Fantasy art is my favourite form of art. With fantasy art there is no boundaries and no rules. The only rule would be to make it as realistic as possible I guess. I don’t like to conform to normality. I am not a slave to the grind (Skid Row – Slave to the Grind). That would make me a rebel I think, like Courbet. With fantasy art, there is no right or wrong answer. Fantasy art allows you to be free, to do whatever you want. People can have four arms and live on orange soda and fly. Dragons can be a form of transportation or kept as pets. The possibilities are limitless. I like fantasy art because it is different. I want to be different I guess, so that’s why I tend to like it. But sometimes I think that would make me more of an illustrator. Also, I want to raise people’s eyebrows when they view my art. And I guess to normal people, fantasy art can do exactly that.
I love to play the drums. I have a band but we don’t jam much but when we do we rock the place out. I own a drum set but I don’t get to play much because my mum will complain when she watches her Korean dramas. My influences are funk, rock, jazz and metal which I find a bit weird as I find it impossible for a single person to love different styles of music that differ vastly. So other than art I guess music would be my other thing.
