By See Kum Editorial November 25, 2022

Editorial – Issue 19

Since Singapore Comic Con is coming soon and NAFA has acquired a booth to promote their courses, I believe would-be students will face the issues of following their heart or being practical.

Let’s talk about passion and career. I used to think that passion could be a career where you earned an income. You enjoy what you do best and never need to worry about the next meal. I am pretty optimistic in this sense.

When a passion secretly transitions into a career, two things will happen. What you have loved doing has now become a job. The next is any job that needs you to deliver results comes with challenges and stress. That is not too bad if you enjoy what you are doing.

But as I met more people, I realised that many people do not mix passion and career. They keep it separate. Some commonly heard reasons are their passions cannot make enough for their lifestyle. Some insisted it should remain a form of enjoyment rather than a job.

It is a matter of choice that we make. If I enjoy doing art and teaching brings meals to the table, I will need to choose which one to spend time on or put in more effort. As a Sagittarius and an idealist, I feel that a career can be passion-based. One should enjoy doing what one loves the most and still be able to earn enough to maintain a lifestyle. Even if you earn less, isn’t it better than being in a career you are not passionate about?

Ho See Kum
Founder of SG Cartoon Resource Hub

See Kum / About Author

Ho See Kum is an art educator with 20 years of teaching experience. Born and educated in Singapore, he has taught and mentored students in the field of fine arts and cartooning in both government schools and private institutions. He is the founder of ComixGuru and LearnXArt, an online training portal for art and cartooning lessons. His cartoons, Emily and Rocket, was featured in The Winged Tiger in Singapore, published in 2010.

“Looking back, the reasons I went into teaching is because I do not know how to be a cartoonist. I have no friends from this field and knew no one that could guide me along the path. That was more than 20 years ago. But now 2022, I still could not see how a young artist can pursue his dream if he says he wants to be a comic artist or cartoonist. I find this unacceptable! I decided to pull together a team and start the Sg Cartoon Resource Hub to find an answer to this. If the industry does not have a clear vision of the cartooning future, let us begin by giving one.”