A Community Arts Project As Part Of Silver Arts 2016

THE PARTICIPANTS

Front row (from left to right): Tan Suang Suang, Michael Lee, Ang Qing Sheng (Instructor), Andy Teo, Fiona Lim, Joy Low

Back row (from left to right): Tee Pei Chen, Angelina Choy, Tan Guan Fan, Shamimah Mujtaba, Tan Yan Hui, Heng Seng Keong, Francisca Cho, Jasmine Toh

Absent from photo: Ong Hwee Ngo

IntroductionOur Animation Journey is an inter-generational Community Arts Project

(CAP) that brings seniors and youths together to learn and create basic

2D animation. Eleven seniors and three youths took their leaps of faith,

embarking on a challenging but fulfilling journey that saw them explore

hand-drawn drawings and computer animation.

Over the course of eight sessions, the participants learnt some principles

of animation, including the frame-by-frame animation process. They got

to familiarise themselves with the basics of using TV Paint, an entry-level

professional animation software, and were exposed to award-winning

international and local animated shorts. An industry professional from

Lucasfilm Animation Singapore was also invited to speak on working in the

field of animation and visual effects.

Armed with electronic drawing tablets and styluses, the participants tapped

onto their memories, imagination, and their inner childhood, as they let their

creative juices flow to produce fantastical characters and surreal settings on

their screens. This booklet profiles all the participants, with each person

contributing to the final animated short through his or her own unique

creations and drawing styles.

Our Animation Journey was commissioned by the National Arts Council

from May to June 2016 as part of Silver Arts, which aims to celebrate active

ageing through the arts. The workshop is organized by The Filmic Eye, a

film education initiative that promotes film literacy, in collaboration with the

LASALLE College of the Arts (Animation).

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NATIONAL ARTS COUNCILARTS & COMMUNITIES

ABOUT SILVER ARTS

In Arts & Communities, we collaborate with artists, corporations and

communities to bring the arts to where people live, work and play. We aim

to engage everyone through the arts to promote self-expression, creativity,

and bonding.

The National Arts Council’s Silver Arts Programme advocates the meaningful

possibilities seniors have in the arts. We believe that seniors can age

creatively and surprise the public and themselves with blooming artistic

contributions. We develop programmes with artists and community

partners that celebrate arts and ageing.

Artist-led community-based projects galvanise the community to contribute

their own experiences and creativity to the arts-making process. Such a

project can empower people of different backgrounds to share their

perspectives, turning diversity into a collectively unique experience for all.

It provides participants with an enjoyable and meaningful arts engagement;

bonding them and deepening their understanding and appreciation of the arts.

silverarts.nac.gov.sg

CURATOR’S STATEMENTAnimation is indeed a medium where anything is possible—there’s no limit

to one’s imagination. It is also a medium that brings back memories of

childhood for the seniors. By providing a platform to engage with their

memories and imagination, and opportunities to interact with youths, Our

Animation Journey has not only uncovered many hidden artistic talents, but

also inspired them to view animation in a whole new light—they are not just

colourful and entertaining cartoons, but also painstakingly-conceived works

of art.

Ang Qing Sheng, who teaches at LASALLE College of the Arts (Animation),

was the main instructor of Our Animation Journey. Together with technical

instructor Fanny Bratahalim, and four other animation student assistants

(from LASALLE), the workshop was organised over four weeks, making sure

that it was fun and accessible for the participants.

Eternality Tan & David Lee

Co-Founders

The Filmic Eye

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THE 4-STEP ANIMATION ROADMAP

Step 1: Paper Sketching - Brainstorming Ideas

Step 2: Digital Sketching -Developing Aesthetics

Step 3: Frame-By-Frame -Sketching Animating Process

Step 4: Piecing Together -Combining Everyone’s Animation

Animation is a painstaking process, but highly rewarding. In the workshop, the

participants followed a basic 4-Step Animation Roadmap which helped them

to better understand the fundamentals of the craft and develop their aesthetic

and creative skills.

The first step was to draw shapes, objects

and creatures organically with a physical

pencil, marker or crayon on paper. This

stage gave the participants free reign

to explore sketching objects that were

related to the theme of ‘journey’.

The second step was to experience drawing

similar objects and creatures using the

tablet and stylus that were connected

to the computer. The participants were

encouraged to mimic the organic motions

of sketching while being acquainted with

digital tools that helped them to develop

their artwork aesthetically.

This was the most challenging stage as

the participants had to learn to make their

sketches come alive by drawing numerous

frames of the same character or object with

minute changes in their position, size and

shape. When put together and played, the

character or object would be ‘animated’

and move across the screen.

The animation of creatures, natural settings and other objects from each

participant were put together and edited to form a 1-minute animated video.

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Andy Teo, 61

Angelina Choy, 55Encouraged by his wife, Fiona (pg. 10), Andy decided to

take the plunge to try animation. Whenever he came to

class, he would immediately hook up the tablet to the

computer and start drawing. Such enthusiasm came

from having learnt a bit about film editing before, though

as he would claim, he had almost forgotten all the

basics. Growing up with cartoon characters like Mickey

Mouse, and his favourite yellow canary, Tweety Bird,

Andy has since developed an eclectic taste for movies.

His favourite genres are horror and action, while he also

appreciates anything that is historical in nature.

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon then

to binge on cartoons like ‘Scooby Doo’ or ‘Casper the

Friendly Ghost’, well that is according to Angelina,

who wanted to learn something completely new, and

animation, not surprisingly, caught her eye. Drawing

had been her weakest subject in school, and despite

some initial trepidation, she found that animation wasn’t

as intimidating as she had thought. Angelina is also very

fond of tennis, having travelled to countries like France

and China to see Rafael Nadal compete in tournaments.

“While putting a drawing to life, I learnt the most

important thing: patience!”

“I always knew animation was a very labourious affair, but actually doing it, frame by frame, was quite therapeutic!”

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Fiona Lim, 58

Francisca Cho, 64Having dabbled with software like Photoshop and

Flash in the past, the opportunity to learn another new

software—TV Paint, did not escape Fiona, who quickly

signed up for the workshop. The challenge for her was

to get used to drawing with a stylus and tablet, which

mimicked the qualities and organic touch of hand-drawn

images. A lover of arts and craft, Fiona also likes reading

and dancing. She is also a food enthusiast—some of her

favourite dishes include nasi lemak, laksa and yong tau

foo. She remembers most fondly of watching Disney

animations, particularly the 1940 classic ‘Fantasia’.

Although very much in love with ‘Kungfu Panda’,

whose humour and cute mannerisms have proved to

be endearing for her, Francisca grew up with ‘Tom &

Jerry’ and ‘Tweety Bird’, three of her favourite cartoon

characters. With a zest for always trying new things in

life, she decided to join the workshop to learn something

that is entirely different. In the process, she discovered

that animating required a lot of hard work and focus,

but if one is patient enough, it is possible to complete it.

“Being able to see my drawings

come to life in animated form

is very exciting!”

“I’ve always liked to push the boundary of my comfort zone.”

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Heng Seng Keong, 58

Jasmine Toh, 52Heng, as she liked to be called, watches ‘Doraemon’ every

Sunday morning. She also likes Tom & Jerry and Mickey

Mouse. Through the workshop, she found her hidden

talent in drawing and animating, though that came with

plenty of effort. She was especially interactive with the

youth participants, and was impressed by the patience of

the instructor and student assistants. In her free time, she

loves travelling and trying new cuisines.

Jasmine has always been fascinated by animation

on television. When she was a child, as there was no

television at home, she would go to her neighbour’s

place to watch cartoons like ‘Ultraman’ and ‘Little Green

Frog’. Her favourite part of the workshop was during

production when everybody had free reign to draw and

animate anything related to the theme of journey. She

also likes dancing, and is currently into line dancing. She

believes in living life to the fullest, and tries to occupy

herself by signing up for workshops and doing volunteer

work.

“It was very interesting to

gather different age groups to

learn animation at the same time.”

“I’m bad at drawing, so the instructor said that I could draw stick figures. But after some practice, I realized I could draw more than just stick figures… I drew the sunset, bridge over flowing water, flowers on the mountain!”

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Joy Low, 57

Michael Lee, 58Wanting to learn something new, and keen to explore

different kinds of art, music and places, Joy signed up for

the animation workshop. Through the eight sessions,

she was generous in offering everyone biscuits—useful

when participants were hungry at night. She also

discovered that she could draw if she really wanted to.

She last seen ‘Finding Dory’ in theatres, impressed by

the colourful characters and the humour. Her favourite

cartoons include ‘Popeye the Sailor Man’, ‘Ultraman’ and

‘Mickey Mouse’.

One of Michael’s favourite pastimes is to go for nature or heritage walks. He’s also an avid sports volunteer, helping with the Singapore Youth Olympic Games and South East Asian Games. Just like sports, he overcame the challenge of animating with patience and determination. Despite his unfamiliarity with art, Michael created drawings based on his imagination. He also watches movies in his free time, and is a member of the Singapore Film Society.

“I was able to use my own hands to create and make

the drawings come alive!”

“I play tennis and squash, but animation was a different ball game altogether.”

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Ong Hwee Ngo, 65

Shamimah Mujtaba, 60Curious about animation, Hwee Ngo found out from a

friend about the workshop. Even though the software

proved challenging to use at the start, she enjoyed utilising

the drawing and colouring tools the most, which helped

her to create intriguing character designs. She remembers

fondly of ‘Tom and Jerry’ in her childhood days, loves

travelling and is always on the hunt for good, tasty local

food such as laksa, satay and fried kway teow.

Shamimah used to hate art in school, but has since discovered that it could be fun too. Seeing her drawings and characters dancing across the screen in animated form was one of her favourite parts of the workshop. Back in the old days watching cartoons, the memory that struck her most vividly was when a new shop started selling television sets, she and her friends would stand in front of the shop to watch ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’.

“I didn’t feel any ‘generation gap’

between the seniors and youths

in the workshop.”

“Animation is all about layering… you can animate anything with just a couple of drawings.”

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Tan Suang Suang, 65

Tan Guan Fan, 18One could learn anything, but to learn “the process of

making” was liberating for Suang Suang in her animation

journey. That process involves not just imagination, but

also thinking skills, and a grounding in the technical aspect.

While devising characters was challenging for her, she came

to appreciate the process of individual creativity and how

collaboration helps the big picture to be realised. Suang

Suang enjoyed cartoons like ‘Donald Duck’ as a child, and

her favourite hobbies include music and travelling.

Together with his sister, Yan Hui (pg. 20), Guan Fan joined the workshop because he wanted to expose himself to more media-related arts. Through the process, he acquired a greater understanding of how timing is essential to the effectiveness of the animation. He is, however, most proud of his interactions with the seniors, whom bounced ideas and opinions off with him. Being a perfectionist, he also learnt to let go of minute details in service of the bigger picture. His favourite cartoon character is ‘Doraemon’, and on a random note, he dislikes coffee because it makes him go all-weird.

“Sharing with the youths was a great

experience. They were very helpful

to advise me on the technical

areas.”

“The seniors were awesome. They treated me like their child!”

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Tan Yan Hui, 20

Tee Pei Chen, 25Interaction is the name of the game for Yan Hui, who loves

to interact with people of all ages, from toddlers to seniors.

The fact that seniors were part of the workshop enticed

her to join. She found animation a tedious but greatly

satisfying process. But seeing everyone working together

to create art inspired her to engage with the medium and

the seniors around her. Her favourite childhood memory

was watching ‘Tom and Jerry’ on television.

Pei Chen loves drawing, so it was no surprise that she challenged herself to draw more complicated characters to animate, rather than settling for simpler ones. Through the process, she realised that by breaking down the characters into different, smaller parts, it became easier to animate. She last saw ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ in the cinema, but her all-time favourite animation is ‘The Prince of Egypt’.

“The seniors were very eager to learn animation, making me realise what it

really means to be a lifelong learner.”

“Creating animation requires me to possess the right attitude—patience, motivation and optimism!”

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About the Curator

About the instructors

Established since 2013, The Filmic Eye is a film education initiative that has been to

more than twenty schools, libraries and community centers with screenings, talks

and workshops to promote film literacy and appreciation, as well as dialogue with

filmmakers. The programmes have reached out to thousands of people, including

students and seniors, as well as working professionals.

Special ThanksLASALLE College of the ArtsChristopher Shaw (Head, Puttnam School of Film and Animation)

Amanda Chee (Assistant)

Mirza Jaafar (Assistant)

Geraldine Toh (Assistant)

Griselda Gabriele (Assistant)

Videography (Anchor Point Pictures)Kannan Vijayakumar

Lee Rahim

Tan Yuan Qing

PhotographyChrystal Ng

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Ang Qing Sheng

Qing Sheng is currently an independent animation filmmaker in

Singapore and teaches in the Animation programme at LASALLE

College of the Arts. He has received support from both LASALLE

Research Project Funding and National Arts Council (Singapore) to

produce animated short films that have been screened worldwide

at international festivals.

Fanny Bratahalim

Fanny graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2014 with First

Class Honours in Animation. Her graduation short film has been

screened in over fourteen international festivals and won several

awards. She is currently working as an Assistant Lecturer for the

animation course in LASALLE, while also studying for her Masters in

Arts Pedagogy and Practice.

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