Drawn to Dream

Tell us about yourself.
My name is Axel and I study animation, games, and visual effects. When I was younger, my mum used to work in Disney! She wasn’t an animator, but worked more so on the business side of things.

When I was younger, my mum would bring me to her office, where there was a sort of daycare centre. I would just sit and watch old animated Disney movies there, and that how’s I got my interest in animation, for sure.

What are your favourite animated movies?
Howl’s Moving Castle. Hands down. I love all the Studio Ghibli stuff.

Since you love Studio Ghibli, have you been to the Ghibli museum in Japan?
No, but we went to the Doraemon Museum. Not saying that the Doraemon Museum was bad—it was just different. I really wanted to go to the Ghibli Museum, but oh well. I did go to the Studio Ghibli pop-up event in Singapore at the Art Science Museum though!

Any future plans or projects you’d like to work on?
It’s quite up in the air right now. My friends and I have been discussing starting up our own company after we graduate, so that we can just work on the projects that we’re passionate about. It’s a close-knit friend group, so we can just bounce off each other and work together, you know. Just for old times’ sake!

We recently heard that a Singaporean animated film named The Violinist won an international award! How do you feel about Singapore’s work being recognised?
It’s a step forward in the right direction la. It shows that, of course, you’ll need to work really hard for it, but it can happen. It proves that with sheer grit and enough willpower, local films can make it big and win international competitions. And I think—I hope—it inspires a lot more people to actually chase that dream. If you’re really willing to learn and put in the hours, then chase that dream.

Lastly, any hobbies outside of animation?
I do Chinese calligraphy! I take lessons, so shout out to my teachers, Sun Laoshi and Kaizing Laoshi. Thank you for teaching me, and thank you for being very patient.