The Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week is holding a virtual exhibition via www.klcomicweek.com.my for free beginning July 10 right up to July 10, 2021

By AZALEA AZUAR

It’s a new way for people to explore and get in touch with the arts. It’s a new way for this art exhibition

THE year 2020 will always be remembered as a chaotic and disastrous year that had almost all important events pushed out of the calendar.

So many annual happenings had to be shelved or continue to exist mainly in cyberspace, including the Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week that was to be held this year at Toys Anime Games and Comic-Con (TAGCC) in Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur (KL).

TAGCC had to be postponed to next year, leaving the Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week to hold a virtual exhibition on its website via www.klcomicweek.com.my for free beginning July 10 right up to July 10, 2021.

This would also be the first communication platform jointly created by the Ministry of Culture, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, the Taipei Comic Labour Union and the Malaysia Comicker Union.

Malaysia Comicker Union president Lau Shaw Ming said the Taiwan Comic Festival was held in Taiwan last year.

One of Takasi’s comic covers. Earlier this year, Takasi was set to publish his books, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he had to postpone the project

It included works of two well-known cartoonists Ahmad Hilmy Abdullah (also known as Mie) and Datuk Mohammad Nor Mohammad Khalid (or popularly known as Lat). (Unfortunately, Lat couldn’t make it to Taiwan).

“We brought all the Malaysian comics. Some artworks were also exhibited in Taiwan. The first KL Comic Week in 2018 was also a collaboration with Taiwan,” Lau said.

He added that the Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week was also a result of the friendly relationship between the two nations.

“We have been working with Taiwan for a few years. So, we’ve experienced each other’s working methods and we are very familiar with each other, hence, the connection,” Lau said.

For the Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week, the two parties merge their funds, so they could maximise on every detail of the event and activities.

The exhibition is divided into three thematic exhibition areas which began with the “Taiwan 368 Townships” in July.

It featured exquisite cartoon illustrations of 368 townships in Taiwan which have been created by Taiwanese cartoonists back in 2017.

If you are into Marvel and DC comics, put your capes on as the exhibition is centred on the theme of “100 Superheroes” which displays superhero paintings created by 20 Taiwanese and Malaysian artists.

As a tribute to the life-saving medical frontliners, 50 paintings by Taiwanese cartoonists will be featured in the “Taiwan Anti-epidemic Comics Joint Exhibition”.

Apart from the exhibition itself, there are online sharing sessions and painting demonstrations from Taiwanese and Malaysian comic artists, including Zheng Yanyun, Qiu Pengqin, Huang Junwei and Fishball.
The exhibition, to be conducted in Chinese and English, is expected to reach 27 million English-speaking Malaysians, as well as followers of the global Chinese and English comic market.

In the past, comic artists would hang around their Doujin booths, entertaining the crowd and getting involved in panel discussions. Now, they have to work around all the obstacles that are presented by the new normal.

A New Normal

Fishball’s art. Apart from being consistent with her drawings, consistency with ideas is another problem, she says.

One of artists, who would be featured in the exhibition, is Negri Sembilan comic artist Takasi (known as Chuan Koh) who had been drawing comics since he was child.

He pursued a degree in graphic design at Saito College, and later worked as a designer before following his calling to be a comic artist.

Takasi has been part of the Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week since its inception that was held at Sungei Wang Plaza.

He sees the virtual version of the exhibition as a different way for people to approach the art.

“It is a new normal. It’s the first time we have these three exhibitions for our Taiwan- Malaysia Comic Week. It’s a new way for people to explore and get in touch with the arts. It’s a new way for this art exhibition,” said Takasi.

Takasi’s name in full is “Tak Kasi Handsome” which translates to “Won’t Let Him Be Handsome” in Bahasa Malaysia — a moniker he got from his boss.

His inspiration is mainly from Hong Kong comics such as “Dragon Tiger Gate” and also popular Japanese manga “Doraemon” and “Crayon Shin Chan”.

Youngsters have it Easier

Back in the days, Takasi felt that it was difficult for comic artists to produce their work.

“It was difficult to draw comics. There was only one way, which was to go find a publisher or a newspaper. We had fewer choices.

“Now, it’s easier. During our time, it was more difficult to draw comics. Then, the technical requirements were also very high,” he said.

In the good old days, comics were hand-drawn mainly using pen and paper. Nowadays, youngsters can use iPads, their laptops and even their phones to create digital art via software applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Procreate and even (the least common) Microsoft Paint.

“People would still love comics, but then they would use a different media to read it. In the future, it will be easier for those youngsters to produce comics,” Takasi said.

Another challenge that Takasi faces is getting the ideas for his comics.

“Maybe, it is difficult to think. There are so many choices. To think of something funny can be difficult,” he said.

Earlier this year, Takasi was set to publish his books, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he had to postpone the project.

“Our publishing slowed down. You can still draw comics, but releasing the new books may be postponed to next year. Ear- liest is next year.”

Still, he was not all that negative when the Movement Control Order (MCO) kicked in as he used the time to improve his digital drawing skills.

“…Because you’re staying at home and have nothing to do, and most publishing companies closed down,” Takasi said, adding that the period also allowed him to create a lot of digital drawings for his Facebook page.

Don’t Think, Just Sit and Draw

Takasi (left), whose name in full is ‘Tak Kasi Handsome’, and Fishball, best known for her hilarious WEBTOON series ‘My Giant Geek Boyfriend’

If you ever want to be in the comic business, either as a hobby or as a profession, don’t think or worry too much about how your world would turn out.

Takasi’s advice is simple: Just “sit and draw”.

“I always say to my friends or during my interview with my publisher that making comics is a lot of sitting and drawing. Just sit and draw, because some may think too much. They’d think of starting big with dreams that their comics would be very famous,” he said.

More often than not, these dreamers would end up stuck “somewhere not very nice”.

“That’s not right. You just sit and draw because there’s no perfection in your drawing skills. It improves day by day. So, the most important is to just sit and draw. When you start drawing, you’re going to produce your own artwork,” Takasi said.

An Ease for the Creators

Another Malaysian comic artist, Fishball (as she prefers to be known) is expected to demonstrate her drawing skills during the Taiwan-Malaysia Comic Week.

She is best known for her hilarious WEBTOON series “My Giant Geek Boyfriend” which depicts her life as a geek, gamer and comic artist.

For this year’s comic week, Fishball said the event would have its pros and cons.

“First, there’s no crowd, and you can just sit in front of your favourite work for a very long time. And nobody’s gonna bother you. I think it’s great. And admission is free…” she said.

Still, Fishball admitted that she would miss the experience and the ambience of an actual convention.

Though, at a usual comic convention, Fishball wouldn’t even have the time to participate in the events that she wanted to.

“Sometimes, you miss the things that you wanted to see. When you go back home and look at the catalogue, you go ‘Oh no! I didn’t see this and it’s over’,” she said.

Despite the absence of a physical meet-and-greet session, Fishball said it would be something that she is willing to sacrifice this year.

“It is a little better for the creators, the people who make the manga, handling the Doujin booths and the merchandise, as people can actually look through your catalogue and get what they want,” she said.

Fishball’s entry into the comic world is unique. She started off drawing whatever happened in her life in a diary.

“So, it is something that comes really naturally for me and I did not notice that it is called comic until somebody told me so!” she said.

She took the pen name Fishball since it is very much aligned to South-East Asian cuisine. “It’s easy to remember and it is a very South-East Asian thing. You see variations of fishball in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. So, it is a fairly memorable kind of thing,” she said.

The Struggle with Consistency

Like any other comic artists out there, Fishball has her fair share of struggle. She especially finds it difficult to be consistent. “Consistency is an issue. In my case, I need to put out three strips per week and it is quite tedious. It’s quite a high requirement for me,” Fishball said.

She could never understand how some comic artists are able to create one strip per day.

“It is very time-consuming first of all to produce from a strip deviation to the full strip itself,” she said.

Apart from being consistent with her drawings, consistency with ideas is another problem.

“…whether it’s funny enough, or whether it’s touching enough, whether it inspires the emotions that you want from your readers or not. It is very difficult for me to be consistent for a period of time,” Fishball said.

Once she is stuck, she would usually take a one-week break.

Working Non-stop during MCO

While other people are unable to work during the MCO, Fishball has been working non-stop.

“I have to draw harder because I have to keep making content for people who are at home. They need to read new content,” she said.

Fishball said she would take a one- week break for every two months to keep her ideas flowing.

“During the earlier part of the MCO, I worked for three months straight without taking a break because I think readers need some form of comfort or some humour within that period,” Fishball said.

Yup. She sacrificed her break to keep people happy and reduce their anxieties — which is very much like what frontliners do these days.