![]() For example, my short film ‘Taku & Mama’ was inspired by the Tengu mythology and my relationship with my parents. I learnt about humanity through fantasy and that is something I always try to bring to my work. When I was first introduced to Lord of the Rings, I figured that I could even make my own cultures! I grew to love fantastical tales and learning about mythical creatures. I learnt about other cultures through myths and stories. But now that I am older, I have come to love the duality of my heritage and want to learn even more. I always wanted something more specific growing up as a kid between Singapore and Indonesia. Even though we lived all around the world, our customs were Chinese-Indonesian and Chinese-Singaporean in nature. I had family living all around the world, the US, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Japan and Singapore. What else should we know about what you do?Ĭoming from a multi-cultural society like Singapore, I was always intrigued by cultural traditions and was sad that my own seemed so diluted. Me wanting to go to top art schools pushed me to further my foundational drawing skills along with my passion for films and stories.Īppreciate you sharing that. I would not have made it if not for all my previous rejections. Sometimes it still amazes me that I eventually got into Tama Art University and California Institute of the Arts. Unfortunately, many told me that I was neither clever enough nor was my art good enough for their programs and that I had to stop drawing cartoons. I applied to schools through my art and academics to get into ‘better’ schools with ‘better’ art programs. I wanted to be the best and do my best for my parents. Education in Singapore was strict and competitive in Singapore. I had my fair share of school rejections growing up. It took quite a bit of convincing from some supportive relatives for them to finally allow me to take a “how to draw manga” class, which in hindsight was a terrible class for 12 year old me to take, and eventually a portrait drawing class. I often begged for art classes to no avail. ![]() When I was younger, they believed that my art dreams were a phase and that I would come to my senses sooner or later. Their focus was on what made money and they did not see how I could earn a living with art. Even as an industry story artist now, I still want to continue creating.Īlright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?īeing traditional, my parents were very against the idea of me pursuing the arts and animation. With CalArts, I was able to hone my voice and create short films. Intensive animation and storytelling classes alongside long hours of working on our short films every year. This led me to discover California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Wanting to not just learn about how to make characters move but how to create convincing characters and how to tell great stories with them. Even though my art education in Japan was going well, I found myself wanting more. After two years of art and language prep school, I made it into Tama Art University in Tokyo. At the age of 18, I moved to Japan in pursuit of that. I being inspired my Disney cartoons and Japanese anime, I decided I wanted to study traditional hand drawn animation. I started researching Miyazaki which led me to Disney and DreamWorks which led me to Spielberg, Fincher, Tarantino and so much more. My interest in film-making and especially animated films grew from there. A scene with an airship popped up and my dad leaned over to me and said “Imagine if you could make that.” I thought to myself “Imagine if I COULD make that.” and that’s how it all started. I remember one day he took us to see Howl’s Moving Castle. My parents are divorced and my dad would take us out to see movies on Sundays after church. ![]() I used to draw characters and comics from a very young age and would pitch them to my older brother. So I was born in Singapore and grew up in a Chinese-Indonesian household. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today? Hi Clarisse, so excited to have you on the platform. Today we’d like to introduce you to Clarisse Chua.
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