By See Kum Editorial Featured June 10, 2022

Editorial – Issue 7

The Sg Cartoon Resource Hub’s first onsite project is to promote Singapore produced comics and comic artists for six months from June to November. The soft launch of the Comic Embassy is on 11 June, Saturday, at 3 pm at Tekka Place. That shall mark the beginning of the six-month event to promote Singapore comic artists and their creations.

But wait, what is Comic Embassy in the first place? Is there such an embassy existing on Sg ground? Do we need to apply for a permit to operate it?

Of course not! The Comic Embassy is a physical space we acquired where it signifies every comic artist is an ambassador for their creation. In this space, the participating artists are encouraged to collaborate, explore new ideas, and share or impart knowledge to the community. The embassy’s role is to identify and bridge existing beliefs about comics and the practitioners, what they do and why they do it and create general awareness among people about this unique profession. We hope to let the community experience what an artist does for a living and why they choose this path despite the odds against the norm.

Comic Embassy is a collaboration between Sg Cartoon Resource Hub, NAFA, Tekka Place and the Millet Group. This collaboration signified an openness to support local comic artists for half a year, something I have not seen in the past. And now everybody involved is pulling strings to make it work.

Will Comic Embassy fall short of expectations and fail in the end?

Probably not because we are not qualified to fail unless we have succeeded. But we planned to improve on our tactics progressively and steadily. I have heard a lot of voices already at the point of this writing. Many people have their interpretation or expectation of what Comic Embassy should be or do. We welcome all suggestions and understood their good intention.

Give us some time to slow down and grow in this hurried-for-result society. The embassy door is always open to new ideas so long it is constructive. You are always welcome to meet us for a cup of coffee.

My final thought, let Comic Embassy be a hang-out place for the like-minded. If you enjoy reading comics and talking to the artist, this is the space you will like to stay around.

Let us have a good time together.

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.”