A comic artist turns his personal interest into a life-long career
Yu is full of creativity and has always seen drawing as a hobby. To him, the magical healing power of drawing pleases and comforts him when his creations are appreciated. Before Yu was enrolled in Illustration & Design, he studied as a laboratory scientist – a highly professional discipline which also brought him immense pressure. Having learned from his setbacks, Yu came to recognise his strengths and weaknesses, decided to stay true to his passion and proactively pursued his career as a comic artist.
Diverse experiences to prepare young people for their career planning
Yu said that BGCA’s social workers had been of great help as he explored his career interest. From his participation in CLAP@JC weekend markets and Nite Cat Online activities, together with his co-creative experience with other youths in an artwork collection for the Animation-Comic Hong Kong, Yu had the first taste of how to commercialise his interests. During the process, he also learned to build and execute ideas with others, as well as to resolve conflicts when disagreement arose.
In addition, Yu made specific mentions about being a teaching assistant for drawing classes. The unforgettable experience made him realise that he had to work on his bluntness while expressing himself. On another hand, he was able to come up with a flexible and interesting solution to address the different abilities and interests of his students.
Yu is glad to see the positive changes in himself through the participation of various activities. Here at the centre, he gets to meet many social workers and people who share the same interest, making him feel warm and at home.
Cheers to peers: be bold to pursue your dreams, be optimistic to take on challenges
Yu has a clear plan to achieve his future goals - one, to have more of his work published; and two, to co-invest in a small studio in 2 to 3 years, so that he has a quiet space to create.
To people who share the same passion, Yu encourages them to persist in the pursuit of their dreams. Drawing is a long journey – there’s no need to be hung up on a moment of success or failure, but to focus on accumulating experiences. He also suggests artists to meet as many people as possible, to listen to their stories and draw inspiration from them. Yu adds that the pursuit of dream comes with many difficulties, but they are all lessons to be learned. And because you are doing what you love, you’d still be willing to try even you have failed time after time.
More about Nite Cat Online (Cyber Youth Support Team)
