[031] Home Sweet Home 還是家最好

When I went to study arts in USA 7 years ago, I'd thought of not returning to Singapore after graduation. That's because I see no attractive job opportunities for the local digital media industry so it was much better to stay in the states to look for a job and gain experience there. Why I eventually returned was due to a trainee offer from EDB (Economic Development Board of Singapore) to work at a 3D animation company in Japan.

However I changed my objective and wanted to do comics instead, so I went to teaching, with a good salary (compared with the rest of the industry) and not a lot of overtime work. I drew comics every night and weekend and uploaded them on my Taiwanese blog. But again, I see no light since no Taiwanese publisher will work with an average Singaporean comic blogger. So I figured that I should try to make a holy grail to the land of manga, Japan, to learn what they did right. I applied to scholarships and finally got it on my 3rd attempt. Everyone was skeptical about my goal but congratulated me that I'd finally won a ticket to my dreamland.

Although there are Singaporeans that do not want to return back  home once they manage to get out, I felt like returning home after graduation. My vision is that Singapore comics will be just as famous as Snoopy and Mickey Mouse! Maybe the perception of "artists=no future" will be changed if we succeed. At the end of the day, Singapore is still my home sweet home, because that's where my family and friends are.

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當我7年前去美國唸美術的時候，想過畢業後不要回新加坡了。因為新加坡的媒體產業相當貧乏，所以還是待在美國找工作吸取經驗比較好。最後回國是因為收到新加坡經濟發展局的贊助，到日本的一家動畫公司培訓的機會。

可是那時我卻改變主義要畫漫畫，所以拒絕了培訓計劃。我投入了一個沒有很多加班，薪資也不錯的教師工作。我每晚和週末都畫漫畫放在無名網站上。但是畫著畫著，感覺在原地打轉。因為不可能會有任何台灣出版社替一名平平的新加坡日記漫畫家出書。所以我決定要去漫畫大國的日本取經。終於在第3次申請獎學金之後成功。每個人都對我的理想很懷疑，但是都祝福我，終於可以到夢寐以求的日本唸書。

雖然有很多新加坡人一出國後就不想回國，但我卻想畢業後回家。我希望在未來裡，新加坡漫畫可以像“史努比”和“米奇老鼠”一樣出名！成功的話，或許可以改變“藝術家＝沒前途” 的觀念。最後，我的家人都在新加坡，所以新加坡仍然是我最愛的家！