We recently connected with Chun Kit Fong and have shared our conversation below.

Chun Kit, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think my passion for art stemmed from very supportive teachers and classmates during my time in secondary school and junior college (middle and high school equivalent). Growing up in Singapore, art had always been seen as an ‘extra-curricular’ subject – especially so in my school which predominantly focuses on STEM subjects. However, the art community was always the one I resonated with the most. The first time I even considered pursuing art as a career was when my art teacher invited his former student, now a 3D animator in the US, to give a lecture. While his experiences felt so foreign and far fetched, it definitely planted the seeds of possibility in my head.

After completing my IB diploma, my friends gifted me a drawing tablet for my birthday. Thanks to COVID, I had plenty of time to dip my toes into digital art and really immerse myself in the community. It was a great time to connect with other artists and hone my skills. A lot of the artists I discovered at that time still have a huge influence on my art, such as Kat Tsai, Kevin Dart, and Lee Xin Li. Like many other artists, a lot of the early artworks I made were fanart. The sudden abundance of time during COVID had me rekindling my love of shows like Avatar The Last Airbender and Adventure Time, and I was also really deep into Animal Crossing, so I made tons of fanart. On that note, even though I’d been attending art classes formally in school, I’ve actually shied away from using colour the entire time! I refused to use anything other than graphite or charcoal. I had to pick up colour from scratch when I first started doing digital art and it was a huge learning curve.

Following this, I completed my two years of mandatory military service and enrolled into Calarts in the fall of 2022. For the first time in my life, I was in an environment surrounded by creatives, and the pressure to perform felt immense! But it is this kind of environment that expedites the learning process, and I’ve already learnt so much from my teachers and peers during the past 2.5 years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

School aside, I enjoy doing freelance illustration work. During COVID, after gaining enough confidence in my digital art abilities I decided to set up an art instagram account. I think the algorithm was much kinder during this period and it felt like the art I posted could actually reach a wider audience. Apart from fanart, a lot of the illustrations I drew back then were of people (mainly couples) with different parts of Singapore as the backdrop. This helped me get a few commissions from people (mainly couples) through instagram, which I thought was really cool! In 2024, I got the opportunity to illustrate for the Land Transport Authority of Singapore, and had my art put up in various train stations and bus stops. I’m looking forward to more of such projects in the future.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

It’s important to cultivate an appreciation for the arts among members of the public. It’s very common for the work of creatives to be undermined as just a ‘lovely product’ by the public, without actually thinking too much about the artist themselves or the effort that went into it. Creative burnout is such a huge problem in our day and age, and many artists struggle to make ends. In order to create a thriving creative ecosystem, we need to ensure that creatives can sustain their livelihoods. This means having job security and reasonable pay if they’re working for a company, as well as financial support from the public and the governing body for freelancers.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Being in Calarts made me realise how much I enjoy capturing simple moments in life with animation. While I don’t really have a final goal I’m working towards, I’m excited to contribute to meaningful projects or productions in the future.

With Singapore in mind, I’d like to work on projects that capture the unique identity of our City State. Singapore’s rapid growth in the past few decades meant that a lot of our heritage is sacrificed for modernisation, and I hope to create art that pays homage to our roots and shows that we are more than just a modern, clean city.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chunkitfong.myportfolio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ckuuart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chun-kit-fong/