Born in Manila, I grew up in a Chinese house-hold, acclimatizing to the Fookien language by ear but responding in English because I could never get the accents right.
The first drawing I could ever recall doing was a picture of cowboy cats I did for my sister’s birthday. Everyone told me how good I was and I believed them. (Everyone, by the way, was my mom)
I’ve always found it fairly easy to express myself through art. From my elementary days to the day I graduated University, I’d doodle first on a clean sheet of paper and write my notes around the drawing of my notebook. I’d make personalized cards and give them away during holidays and special occasions, just for fun. I’d win over girls’ attentions with my charming little drawings, only to get tongue-tied shortly after because I hadn’t thought it through that far.
My career after university however, was far from anything related to art.
The first drawing I could ever recall doing was a picture of cowboy cats I did for my sister’s birthday. Everyone told me how good I was and I believed them. (Everyone, by the way, was my mom)
I’ve always found it fairly easy to express myself through art. From my elementary days to the day I graduated University, I’d doodle first on a clean sheet of paper and write my notes around the drawing of my notebook. I’d make personalized cards and give them away during holidays and special occasions, just for fun. I’d win over girls’ attentions with my charming little drawings, only to get tongue-tied shortly after because I hadn’t thought it through that far.
My career after university however, was far from anything related to art.
I found myself in the midst of management processes, weekly meetings,metrics, matrices, needs analysis and Six Sigma certifications.I was a Management Training consultant for a multinational company. I had a steady income, a good foothold in the corporate world, I liked what I did, yet something was missing. This sent me on a soul-searching quest to find out what I truly wanted. I read any number of books, magazines, I even took a career assessment test into consideration. When the results came in, I discovered that, in theory, I’d make a great priest. I soon realized that we only have one life. It’s up to you to make it count.
I decided to take a one year certificate course in multimedia and 3D animation. From there I free-lanced at studios doing 3D modeling and 3D animation for commercial projects abroad, 2D animation and graphic illustrations for local television and tried my hand, literally, as a junior animator at Toon City doing traditional hand-drawn animation for the Curious George series. My studies steered me into the realms of animation, classical and digital. Although I learned a lot about the discipline, it just wasn't as fulfilling as designing characters. I particularly gravitated towards modeling and texturing in 3D. This helped me "see" my characters come to life in virtual space.
If I’m not working or drawing, I enjoy close-up street magic. The awe, the mystery the entertainment, the experience that one goes through witnessing magic before your eyes is a rush you get on a different level. Music. Can’t live without it. I enjoy classical music, pop, jazz, meditation music and misty forest sounds just for atmosphere. I play a bit of guitar and I am very good at it when I'm alone in the bathroom. I find cooking fun and therapeutic. It’s just a matter of finding what's in the fridge and improvising. Sometimes it works out well and sometimes it doesn’t. The fun is in the experimentation and having others eat it first. I enjoy exploring nature with my trusty digital camera, snapping away at what natural beauty, or irony the world presents to me at that moment.
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