Illustration/ 2D Animation

Somewhere Only We Know/ Ghost

so the original inspiration for this was to be a personal pair piece (with two people in the artwork, having fun together), and it was meant to have a very ghibli (i got inspired by the ponyo waves), summery, fantasy feel to it, but me and the other person in the artwork parted ways before i could finish it, so the ghostly figure is them, and i made the pictures (with the words) kinda look like theyre from a film/polaroid camera so you can only see the "ghost" when the pictures develop. the text is in my own handwriting and it's meant to mimic people writing on their polaroids.
the nighttime version of this was also heavily inspired by meteor shower!

Slipping Through My Fingers

this was also another very personal piece and it's about the loss of my (peranakan) culture. the entire piece is meant to resemble a batik sarong, hence the length, lineart colour, border and flowers. the piece is split into four sections, the top (yellow) part being family and ancestry, middle (orange) being religion, bottom (pink) being art forms - kasut beading, and the end part with all the beads depicting all the elements of the culture itself - nonya kuehs, tok panjang (traditional peranakan feast), and joget dancing.
the flowers for each section are linked to them in a certain way,

top section flowers - frangipani:
although its considered pantang (unlucky, bad) in our culture because of ghost legends, a lot of peranakan houses/families, (especially the joo chiat peranakan houses) including mine, have the frangipani tree in our garden. hence, i felt that it closely relates to the theme of family.

middle section flowers - chrysanthemum and jasmine:

these flowers are commonly used in prayers, be it in flower water, garlands, celebrations, offerings or tomb flowers. i thought it was fitting for the religion (buddhism/taoism) segment.

bottom section flowers - peony:
peonies are everywhere in peranakan culture, from crockery, to kasut maneks (beaded slippers), sarong kebayas, and kamchengs (jars). it's an auspiscious symbol that was taken from the chinese side of our heritage, and i feel like it's one of the most iconic symbols of the perankan culture, hence, the use of it in the art forms section.

Into The Cyclone

this piece was inspired by the manta ray feeding cyclones! the mermaid is a whale shark mermaid, as other filter feeders (such as whale sharks) commonly join in the feeding frenzy!

Burnout

A ballerina made of wax burns herself out from pushing herself too far, and ends up learning to depend on others for support.

this was my final year independent work project, and i based it off my own experience of pushing myself too far and being too ambitious in my projects - eventually burning myself out. being in performing arts since young, i understand the pressure to do your absolute best on stage, and really give the audience everything you have, with everything being perfect. i was also a peer supporter for 3 years in nanyang polytechnic, and from all my experiences, i decided to come up with this story and short animatic.

Hati Manek (Pre-production)

A young Peranakan girl rejects the traditional art of Kasut Manek for modern trends, machinery and industrialization. She only learns the importance of her culture after a fight between her and her mother, and takes the first steps to embracing her tradition after apologising.

Role: Director, Character Designer, Prop Designer, Voice Actor (Emily)