Mr Kiasu creator mentors students
Not everyone has the bragging rights to having sold their work at a comics convention.
But for 10 Singapore Polytechnic (SP) Diploma in Digital Animation (DDA) students, it was like a dream come true when their comics were sold at the Singapore Toy, Games & Comics Convention last week.
The students are part of Comics AX, an interest group mentored by Mr Johnny Lau, the celebrated author behind the Mr Kiasu comic book series.
Mr Lau spent five months with the SP students with the objective of nurturing the next generation of local artists and animators.
This is the first time that the 54-year-old has taken on a mentoring role at a local polytechnic.
Mr Lau told The New Paper that Comics AX is not meant for students who produce comics as a hobby. Rather, he was there to "guide and educate students on what it takes to build a career out of creating comics".
Students in the group had many learning points and takeaways from the mentorship with the veteran artist. Most of them agreed that Mr Lau opened their eyes to the importance of story concepts and how to develop them in comics.
Miss Liew Li Qi, 19, a Year 3 DDA Student, said: "In school, they never taught us how to plan story concepts like how Mr Lau did.
"He would develop our concepts with us by asking questions and finding loopholes so this helps make our comics more engaging."
The comic that Miss Liew developed is titled CafeAlfheim, where four elves studying in Cafe Academy have to successfully open a cafe in order to graduate.
EXCITING
Another DDA student, Luqmaan Haziq Ramlee, 17, said his experience with Mr Lau was very fruitful and exciting.
Luqmaan's concept is about a city girl who decides to run away and live in a forest but eventually stumbles upon a magical realm where she becomes the guardian of the forest.
Their comics are published together in the AX Paper, which went on sale at $2 at the convention.
A total of 76 copies were sold during their two days at the convention.
The comics attracted the attention of both local and international companies, such as Japanese video sharing service Niconico.
Mr Lau said: "It was fulfilling to see how the general public reacted to the students' artwork.
"The reaction gave the students more confidence and hopefully, they can continue this path and publish their own work by themselves in the future."
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