LIMELIGHT'S PROFILE

The passion to translate emotions into visual artworks and the interest in communicating with people prompt Ng Li Jia to pursue Advertising Design.

A born attachment with graphics

Since she was in secondary school, she was more trapped by eye-catching graphics instead of the text books. She is one who prefers to speak her mind through graphics adorned with creativity.

"I enjoy sharing my thoughts and emotions with people through creative ways and let them see things in a different perspective," the 19-year-old said.

"So, taking up the Advertising Design is an ideal decision to empower my skill and technique in producing good visual artworks besides bringing my ability into full play."

Discipline and organizing skill smooth her path

Growing up in a well-disciplined environment taught Ng to prioritize and manage her works wisely.

"From young, I've always been taught to put my best effort in everything I do. That keeps me from slacking off," said Ng.

The good planning and organizing skills have also helped her tremendously in assignments. "I delegate the work-loads in order to maximize the job efficiency and productivity."

Being faithful to her religion, according to Ng, is also one of the factors that keep her sailing determinedly.

When she's not a student?

"I'm one of the leaders in my church's youth ministry," said the active lass, "which houses about 500 members and the number is still increasing."

Currently, Ng is also the cell group leader of the Form 5 girls from all over Klang Valley who attend the same church as her. Her duties vary from facilitating and organizing meetings to fostering relationships and tutoring. But to Ng, it's not an easy job.

"Being a 'big sister' to a number of girls is a challenge to me. But, I'm thankful for the opportunity as it somehow trains me to build and manage the relationship with people who walk into my life," said the insightful student.

Where will she be in five years from now?

Upon finishing her diploma course, Ng hopes to further her studies overseas to widen her horizon.

"I wish to work in a renowned agency for a couple of years after completing my studies so that I can put my knowledge into use besides gaining experience in the constantly evolving field."

Ng also wishes to start a small business where she can enjoy working at her own pace. More importantly, she is aspired to make a name for herself in designing field one day.

"To achieve this, she advises her peers to go the extra mile simply because an achiever is one who withstandssetbacks and stiff competition."

A positive mindset, fueled with passion and focus, drives Goh Chee Seng to achieve beyond the ordinary in the field of Digital Animation. Currently a 3D Animator in Silver Ant Bhd, Goh has journeyed a long way to arrive to where he is.

Chasing After A Dream

Goh started drawing in Standard 3, but his paintings were not up to his expectations. "I was always jealous of my classmates taking part in drawing competitions. I always wished I could do better and I worked hard to improve," added Chee Seng.

Goh's parents were not supportive on his decision for a career in Art and Design. But their opinion changes when Goh won the RM 50K top scholarship prize in the 2001 New Media Awards, organized by The One Academy and The Star. That timely win opened doors for Goh in ways he did not expect.

Goh's deep interest in animation and filming was what made him pursue his future in Digital Animation. For Goh, creating animation is a challenge that he thrives on. "To draw or paint a picture is not as hard as animating. There's storytelling, design, filming, animating, story boarding, directing, voice acting, music editing and even marketing. That's why I love animation," said Goh.

Through Transformation To Greater Glory

Through the New Media Awards Scholarship, the best art education is for Goh's taking. But this journey through The One Academy was not easy. According to the graduate, "I am not the best in time management and I often wished I had 48 hours a day. My lack of time always blocks my creativity and it's difficult when I want to present something up to my lecturers' expectations."

Goh had so little time for himself, he regrets not being able to join the graduation campaign committee due to his commitments to the final graduation project! Despite his heavy schedule, this star student never ceases to keep fun in the run.

"I like to make fun and I hate boring lifestyles. I love making people smile and cheering up the mood." It is this philosophy that has kept Goh going through thick and thin without letting circumstances drag him down.

Tasting The Sweet Fruit Of Success

With a hope to improve, Goh battled his challenges face on. Not one to give up easily, he overcame problems with perseverance and passion. Today he is a successful 3D artist with Silver Ant Bhd and has achieved online fame with his graduation animation work 'Bersama-sama'.

Goh believes success comes to those with genuine effort from the heart and he hopes to achieve his dream to direct his own production one day. "Trying to describe your passion in art to people is not easy. Instead, I've always let people feel my passion through my work. I hope to become a Senior Animator in 5 years, and then proceed to become a film Director."

"I reminisce and remind myself of what I want and what I dream for. I find that it's interesting when you have a dream and you do all your can to reach your fullest potential," said Goh.

With an optimistic and outgoing overview on life, Wong Ee Va is passionate about designing and creating; not just the visually attractive, but to create communication in an effective and practical channel. Enthusiastic with everything that she comes across to do, this multitasking graduated is fuelled with passion and focus.

A Fascination for Interactivity and branding

According to Ee Va, "Multimedia Design is a very wide area of expertise, from web design to motion graphics, and also video techniques. I am also very interested in advertising campaigns and brand building to promote a product."

Ee Va dreams to one day become a Multimedia Designer. Although she understands that it will not be easy, but she has never regretted choosing this path and the amount of change she has to go through to cope. "I hope to push my limits more & grow to become a more matured person in my thinking, analysis and problem-solving."

Communicating Through Art

For Ee Va, communication is about conveying the message about your created products on different kinds of medium. "When it comes to Multimedia Designs, it's about making sure you deliver the right thing at the right time, to the right audience. It boils down to concepts that are acceptable to the target audience that makes an art piece usable for communication," said the student confidently.

Although Ee Va believes she has a long way to go to achieve her goals, she is not afraid of hard work, stress and obstacles. "Passion makes a person enthusiastic; I am excited to see what is prepared for me tomorrow. My loved ones also supported and encouraged me whenever and wherever I need them," she said.

As Bubbly As Ee Va Can Be!

The cheerful 20 year old loves the outdoors and the thrill of it. Apart from her love for art & design, Ee Va indulges herself with church activities, long distant running, hiking and swimming. "My cheerful, optimistic and outgoing self has helped me a lot in my studies to be able to see things in a very different perspective," she added. "As long as I have the opportunity to grow tougher through trials and challenges, I'll be happy!"

Elroy Chong possesses three out of the Seven Deadly Sins used in early Christian teachings, which touch on human-beings' tendency to sin. They are the wicked Wrath/ Envy, Anger and Pride. You may be surprised with this. But to Elroy, these three ? values ? are in contrary the pivots that make him pulls his socks up.

Motivation To Higher Expectations

The Advertising Design student becomes green with envy when he sees works way better than him. He is annoyed when his creation is not up to his expectations. As a result, these shortcomings are turned into a kind of motivation, which puts Elroy on his mettle towards better achievement. When his works are well-done and highly accepted by others, he feels proud for it. From there, he works harder for louder applause.

An enthusiastic designer, Elroy finds great pleasure in designing something new. ?It is exciting and refreshing. It makes my life colourful,? he says. ?Advertising and Graphic Design is a highly challenging field. Things evolve so rapidly that I need to constantly update myself with the latest happenings in the industry. And I must say that I enjoy discovering and digesting the new information surrounding me,? said the 22-year-old lad, who is also a part-time art tuition teacher.

?College life can be a little anguish sometimes with the hands full of assignments. Teaching art, however, makes me feel relaxing and at ease because I enjoy pure art that is not confined to limitation and rules,? explained Elroy.

?Besides, I get self-satisfaction from teaching art when I notice some of the students improve their drawing skills and their creativity stretched out.?

A Bighearted Student Who Aims Big

Elroy is also a student who aims big. He wishes to establish his own design studio, which also incorporates an art tuition centre to continue nurturing the young souls. ?Hopefully, I can form a design team with my mates and do some freelance works before we move on to the bigger scale projects.? But that's not the end of it.

The bighearted student also hopes to contribute his talent in charity events to help the needy. ?I'm willing to do design at no cost for charitable cause, for example raising public awareness on global warming issue, war, destitution, HIV disease and other dominant social affairs,? says the thoughtful.

?But before I'm capable of that, I hope to pursue my Degree studies and work overseas for a period of time to gain more exposures and enrich my experience,? says the aspiring designer who will continue to make an effort to reach his goal.

Being a perfectionist is a gift but also a killer to Norman Low Wei Kit. The young driven animator is willing to navigate along rough terrains of trials and tribulations to achieve his desired result. Never for one minute had he thought of giving up.

But that costs a price to him. Sometimes he is unable to meet the assignment deadlines. The pursuit of perfection constantly puts him under pressure to polish his works till they are up to his expectation. Failing so, he will continue to work on the subject over and over again. "This is me," Norman stresses, admitting he can be as stubborn as mule at times.

Norman's earnestness pays off

Norman's pursuit of flawlessness is not merely idealism but proven a sensible desire towards self-satisfaction. The 22-year-old digital animation graduate captivated the judges of Wacom Community Gallery Staff Selections Contest with his very own kind of highly photo-realistic sci-fi 3D robot character design, Fridgeface Weightlifting. He beat over 200 entries from all over the world to emerge the Grand Prize winner in the contest.

Besides his strong desire towards design excellence, Norman contributed his achievement to constant research and experiment. "I make a conscious effort to do research before I begin a job. It has become a habit to me. Preparation absolutely makes the production later much easier and less time-consuming," he said.

Norman's share of advice

Norman also revealed that, "You should never hesitate to share your knowledge with other students, who are positive-minded and open for discussion. As it makes way for further enlightenment, joy and promotes curiosity. In return, they will surprise you with what you might not know and from there, it provokes a continuous learning."

During the academic studies, you may come across harsh criticisms and unreasonable statements. But all these, according to Norman, should never put you off to move ahead. "In the creative world, nothing is wrong and nothing is right. Likewise, there're darkness and obstacles behind every success."

So just do what you think is right and more importantly, dare to learn and dare to dream. "Big dream will take you far," he said.

Norman's future plan

Despite his young talent, Norman hopes to work in the world's leading film and entertainment companies Lucas Film, which is also the creator of Star Wars.

"It is an established and reputable company that has produced a wide range of quality of works. I'm enthused to learn and work with one of the best professionals in the world."

Norman is comfortable to work in not just animation, but also concept arts, texturing, modelling and scrip-writing. He is currently working strenuously to improve his portfolio so that he's able to gain entry into the world-renowned company.

With such doughty spirit, there's no qualm that he'll find his way to success in animation industry.

Despite his young age, he is already a rising star in comic, illustration and animation fields. This gung-ho artist even goes beyond the local shore to sweep international recognition before he graduates, a proven testament of his soaring talent and maturity in art expression.

How it began for Bram

Bram Lee Chin Horng started to draw as long as he can remember. He has always dreamed to become a comic artist but never had he thought it would become a reality when he grew up. It all dated back to the Malaysia New Comic Talent Search in 2003 where Lee was the champion of the competition under the category of students below 18 years old. The rest of the story was just beyond his belief.

The glitters continue to beam

Bram's talent has not gone unnoticed when Gempak, a comic magazine approached him to become a freelance comic artist.

Things went even better for Bram when he obtained a RM50, 000 Merdeka scholarship offered by The One Academy to study in Digital Animation. Since then, he has become more occupied with freelance works and assignments.

"Although it's busy and challenging between juggling my assignments and freelance work, it's truly rewarding when I have the chances to share my feelings with the audience through my art works," said Bram, whose passion for drawing runs deep.

He also became the top winner of Hinter Wars character design competition in 2006 before he went on to impress us with his next but not last achievement - the coveted 'CG Choice Gallery- 2D Illustration and Concept Art Award 2007' which he grabbed with his brilliant masterpiece 'The Flying Parade'.

Awards that never stop streaming in

In the same year, Bram appeared as the Silver award winner of Spiderman 3 Drawing Competition jointly organised by Columbia Picture and Gempak, the First Prize winner of the Manga Suki Comic Competition organised by The One Academy and the Bronze winner of the Best Digital Art Award under The One Academy's Student Creative Awards 2006.

"I seek the challenge of learning something new. I want to gain more skills in more fields," said the ambitious Bram, who is never content to rest on his laurel.

And therefore, here it comes another recognition under his belt. Bram captured the Consolation Prize at the Cerita Rakyat Malaysia Creative Competition in 2007. The young budding artist was also invited to join 115 Digital Art Gallery, an online Romanian Digital Art Gallery dedicated to the exhibition and promotion of digital fine art globally at www.115.ro. His art works were also showcased at the 8th International Comic Artist Conference held in Hong Kong.

Amazingly, all these were achieved merely at his age of 20. Needless to say, his future is definitely a sparkling one.

According to Bram, all his achievements come after his strong determination and fervent passion in what he pursues. "There were times where my works were harshly criticized by the magazine editors and got rebuffed. I was so depressed. But from there, I learn to be open to criticism and improve instead of arguing from other's comment. This attitude will take you far," said Bram, who seems to have found his own ways of growth and success.

"My passion and commitment for design run deep. I cannot be more certain that this is what I want. And no one can take that away from me," Cynthia confessed unreservedly.

Cynthia's love for design

Ever since she establishes her fondness with interior design, Cynthia has always wanted to design a space for people to live in.

"But it's not just simply living in it. The design must be a dream space that the client desires. This is what excites me most as I believe nothing beats this sense of achievement knowing people are living happily in my own creation. I couldn't ask for more."

Passion alone is not enough

To Cynthia, passion alone will bring her no where. "You need to be committed and strive for your aim. Nothing comes easy in life. I always bear this in my mind," said Cynthia, who is determined to overcome her weaknesses to become a better learner.

"I used to get emotional easily especially when people criticized my work or me. But the learning here really tested my patience and I slowly become more open to criticism. I listen to their comments for self-enhancement."

Cynthia's diligence paid off

Cynthia's hard work has earned her the support and trust from her lecturers and classmates. She was selected as the class representative of Interior Design Batch 55-1, representative of interior design in graduation campaign, and Advisory and Vice President of interior design exhibition.

"Leadership is one that I wouldn't think of venturing few years back. This job holds a big responsibility towards the entire team. I'm thankful that my lecturers had given me an opportunity to lead my team. It opened my eyes and trained me to explore my capability further," said Cynthia.

"It also further polishes my sense of responsibilities, leadership skills and organizing abilities."

The unforgettable memory

Despite the interesting journey at The one Academy, Cynthia was not spared from having a hard time to impress her lecturer.

"You can't imagine how tense it is to be in his class. He is the most demanding lecturer I ever had in my studies life. Students went through all kinds of struggles just to impress him as his expectations are very high and nothing seemed to be enough for him," Cynthia recalled.

On the flip side, all the hard works were worth it as Cynthia challenged herself to unlock her furthest potential.

"He always encouraged that anything we do is not for anyone but ourselves."

"I'll cherish the experience I gained from his class," said Cynthia.

The 21-year-old graduate, who is also interested in grooming, decided to pursue a make-up course before embarking on a career in an interior design firm.

"I hope to establish an interior design firm that specializes in what the industry is short of. So right now, I'll be working hard towards this goal and hopefully, in the next few years I can expose myself to different aspects of interior design," she said.

"Where you spend your time is where you get your improvement." So says the subject of this month's spotlight, Er Si Chern. It's a little hard to believe that just three short years or so ago, this game-crazy Multimedia Designer had no idea what he was going to do with his life. His current claim to fame is the fast-paced shoot-'em-up game 'Save Your Village', produced as part of the inaugural Advanced Digital Media class.

Wild Child

According to Si Chern, he used to be a rebellious sort of guy. After graduating from high school, he wanted to start work but his parents refused to let him. "They'd already worked very hard and wanted me to become someone useful...It's all thanks to my parents-if not for them, I wouldn't be here" he earnestly explains. Already being somewhat of a game addict and a lover of good design, he chose to enter The One Academy and later major in Multimedia Design. He plans to begin work in an interactive design company after graduating in order to gain experience and also to help defray his family's monetary burden, as his sister is also now a student at The One Academy.

Concentration

For all his strengths in Flash game design, Si Chern still has a little trouble sitting down and concentrating on work. Even when introduced to ActionScript 3.0, the newest version of the programming language, he admits to floundering for a short while during classes. However, he remained undiscouraged and started experimenting seriously with the language's capabilities until he achieved his desired results. This young man still has own style of getting things done, alternating work with short gaming sessions to keep him motivated.

Creativity and your girlfriend

Interestingly enough, when we asked Si Chern to define 'creativity' he answered, "Handling your problems and your girlfriend at the same time." Well, that's one way to put it?

"It's not something that exists since birth; you have to train it. When I have problems, I don't get discouraged, I just look for other references or other people's opinions on the matter. I think the natural talents you have are less important than how you train them."

Quite deep thoughts for a fresh designer. Si Chern also mentions he plans to create more Flash games in the coming years. We can only hope that they will bring people as much joy as his first attempt has!

This Penang native describes himself as a real dreamer, and would probably be a caf� manager if didn't have his hands full with design work! While he describes himself as emotional, his greatest weakness may really be one of his hidden strengths.

'Sometimes my emo helps'

Chin Lean Kee's name alone may not ring a bell, but he and his classmates were responsible for the aesthetically amazing short animation 'Family Portrait'. He confirms our suspicions that he put lots of effort into the project. "I was born in a self-reliant family. I'm glad that my parents raised me this way."

"Nothing is easy; if you never try, you never know." He adds, "I am an emotional guy and sometimes I feel powerless, but my emotions helped me a lot while I was doing my final project. When you're down you feel more, especially in terms of mood and angle or lighting?anything related to feel and beauty."

Daydream believer

Lean Kee went into Digital Animation almost purely because of his love of setting his mind free. "I like to imagine," explains the young man. "I can let my imagination become reality and share it visually. Interesting, right?"

Along the course of his studies, he even managed to brush up his skills in photography and cinematography, but his true passion remained in animation. According to him, the medium has more flexibility as lighting, camera angles and movement can be altered until the exact desired result is achieved. Certain things that cannot be achieved with physical cameras can indeed be done with the help of programs such as Maya?and, of course, the appropriate skill set.

100% design sense

The young animator is vehement that even animators must have some sort of design sense. "I'm 100% sure! If you don't have design sense, how can you define beauty?" He aims to seize his audience's attention by wowing them with great aesthetics before slowly analyzing and revealing his work's aims. Confidence at this juncture is also important.

Cameras or coffee

Lean Kee's confidence and passion?just a few of his many virtues?spur him on, and he wishes to someday become an art director and/or create a film that will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world's best. For that, he needs to start gaining more experience that will help him fulfil his dream. "Maybe I'll be a caf� manager since I like to talk and communicate more with different kinds of people." Who knows, his customers may spawn the next great Malaysian animation!

To his peers, Lean Kee has this to say: "Work smart and hard, but not blindly. Appreciate what you have now, because you may not get to keep it. Do what you want to do, and enjoy it, so you don't have regrets later."

This young man with 'small eyes (and) a big mouth' may not look like much, but looks can be deceiving. Cheerful and humorous, Chang Lip Wei is no stranger to creating consistent, quality-driven works, and his passion for his work is nearly unmatched.

Drawing Dreams

Hailing from Penang, Lip Wei went straight from high school to The One Academy with his family's full support. While he is more well-known for the finely finished pieces that won him accolades during the recent Student Creative Awards, his biggest dream is to go into comics and start his own title.

"If possible, I would like to have my own comic and express my own story and feelings with my own styles and drawings," he explained to us. "Besides that I will also try my best to spend more time on self-exploration. I plan to take about 1-2 years to further my self-exploration first... If I could afford to take further studies, I would think about it for sure."

Passion and emotions

Not one to rest on his laurels, this young man continues to strive for improvement in every way. "I believe that everyone should be enjoying their work all the time so I've chosen to love my work. Besides that, I love to try new things and keep on challenging myself. I won't give up even I meet mistakes, because I think that mistakes always help us to grow and give us more experience."

His passion and emotions, however, sometimes get the better of him. Impatience sets in, and the urge to rush work becomes stronger. "It's a very bad habit and to overcome it, the only way was to manage my time properly and plan my progress well. Now I realize and strongly agree that no matter how good I am, research is much more important than I expected. So, right now I've started to spend more time for research and then only move on to execution."

Career and Interest

Lip Wei has definite plans for his future, believing that knowledge and experience are the best ways to achieve what he wants to. To his juniors and other aspiring illustrators, he says, "It's very important to love and have a very strong passion on what you're doing, we are lucky in this field because we are actually working at our career and interest at the same time. We shouldn't treat it as a way to earn money, but as a way to express what we like, and at the same time use our capability to make contribution to people."

Some people sing in the rain, this digital animator prefers to think in it. Kevin Ng Chee Kin turned his childhood passion into his career path, and this cheerful and motivated individual isn't looking back.

Land of the Legomen

Kevin, a Klang native, says his childhood play with Lego figures spurred him on to study Digital Animation. "When I was young, I liked to play with Legos and place them nicely as if there was a story behind them. Slowly, I picked up an interest in drawing, especially creating my own characters. Therefore, I chose this major because I want to design characters, bring them to life and make a story for them," he explains. "I love designing characters. Everyone has their own characteristics and that makes us special and interesting beings. When I finish designing a character and animating it, I would feel that he exists in the world and is like a friend of mine." He doesn't discount the importance of design sense either, saying good design enhances the look and feel of any character.

"As a Digital Animation student, nearly everything is interesting," he says when asked about the most interesting parts of his learning journey. "People might think that we have a lot of work to do, but we're actually enjoying it and having fun doing all that. We might work overnight, but when I work overnight together with my team members and classmates, I take it as a party with a bunch of friends. I don't think I would have such a life if I were in a different field of studies. At the end of the day, we're all working hard and playing hard.

"Where there's a will, there's a way"

Some may already be familiar with Kevin and his group's final project, the short animation 'Chase', and his work as graduating Batch 55's Head of Public Relations. "I'm not the type that socializes easily and I'm not good in talking," he admits, "but I think I was nominated because I'm entertaining. I joke a lot with my friends and always bring about a fun atmosphere. Since holding this position, I've learned to always put a smile on my face when I meet people." A wise lesson for anyone!

What he may have declined to mention, however, was how his batchmates may have picked up on his never-say-die attitude and strong sense of self-confidence. "If I want or need to get something done, I'll get it done or at least try for it. I always tell myself I have nothing to lose by doing so, and I can do it because anything can happen. I won't give up in getting something that I want until the end." That attitude is sure to carry him far now that he's graduated. The young animator plans to gain more work experience by joining a digital studio as a CG artist or animator, and aims to lead his own team at the studio in the next five years.

Kevin's also had his share of hard knocks to keep him on his toes. "I once nearly lost all my close friends due to a mistake I made, and that moment felt like the end of the world to me. I believe everyone does have their hard times, and I want to take the opportunity here to let people know that no matter what kind of bad situation you're in, always remember that it's not the end of the world and there are people who have it worse. Always believe that 'every bad has its good'."

We think, therefore we are.

When Kevin's not busy with his projects, you'll find him indulging his passion for music. "I play the guitar and sing, but I'm not a pro at it, it's just a hobby and I learn new things from my friends. I started picking up the guitar when I was 15 and formed a band as the lead singer with my friends. We performed at school functions, and we?re still performing in college."

He also has another hobby some people might find a little strange: thinking. "I take thinking as a way of meditation for myself and it really helps me when it comes to solving problems that I face. Especially when it rains, I like to sit down and stare into the rain and start all my wild thinking. But sometimes I overanalyze things to the point of negativity, and that gets me emotional. At times like this, I would turn to my friends or family and ask for advice or ask for help to get out of that rut."

"When a person does better than me, sometimes I get emotional and start looking down on myself. I would just rebuild my confidence by telling myself I would do better in future. I take this weakness as self-motivation to push myself to improve." When asked for a little advice for his juniors, Kevin had this to offer.

"There are always a million ways to get something done. When one way doesn't work, try another and don't give up until the end. We can't know what is ahead of us and anything can happen. Even if we fail, at least we know we tried. Remember that by failing, we learn; by learning, we earn."