Asia Tonight - Wed 25 Jun 2025
49:09 Min
Asia Tonight
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CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
She doodles for a living: This Singaporean comic artist tackles taboo issues with manga-style art
As a teenager, Claire Low spent most of her time drawing, doodling and sketching. Naturally, she incurred her mother's classic Asian Parent wrath: 'You're going to starve if you end up an artist! Go practise your math!' But Low paid her well-meaning mum little heed. The Singaporean decided to study graphic design at university, and after graduating in 2021, got a job as a comic book artist at local comics publisher Difference Engine. Some of the company's work includes the local superhero series Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma, and the comic anthology Sound, which features artists and writers from Southeast Asia. 'As a comic book artist, I work on each panel and page to effectively deliver the narrative and the characters' journey,' Low said. The 28-year-old is also Difference Engine's design lead and creates art on Instagram under her username comatomato. 'I think of ways to aesthetically and visually package a whole story,' she said. She looks at cover design, chooses fonts that best express the narrative, and selects the colour palettes that tie in with the publicity or launch campaigns. 'It's a lot of work that's both big picture and detail-oriented,' she said. Low and her colleagues also collaborate frequently with comic artists and authors across the region – including Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines – to bring to life through the visual art form. MORE LOCAL STORIES WITH COMICS Unlike many comic book artists she knows, Low didn't read many when she was growing up. Marvel references would fly over her head, and she was never particularly drawn to American superheroes like Superman or Spider-Man. 'I did love manga, though, and I enjoyed a lot of anime, so Japanese manga and comics had a big influence on me and my drawing style,' she said. Her favourites include Bleach by Tite Kubo and Inuyasha, both by Rumiko Takahashi, which explore fantasy, self-discovery, social issues, and adventure. It's no surprise, then, that her work and the stories she gravitates to share similar themes. Take Tiger Girls. As both the artist and design lead for the fantasy comic, Low spearheaded the visual direction and drew the panels. The comic book, written by author Felicia Low-Jimenez, was released in paperback in May, after its initial launch as a webcomic in 2024. The story draws on an old Chinese superstition that girls born in the Year of the Tiger bring bad luck. In the dystopian world Low helped visualise, these girls are hunted and killed for the misfortune they're believed to cause. Low worked closely with Low-Jimenez to bring the characters Suling and Nadia to life. They discussed the overall idea, and Low made the decisions on the aesthetic and design of the story and its characters. She told CNA Women that the comic is especially meaningful to her because it draws from the stories, folklore and stereotypes she grew up with as a young Chinese woman. 'Tiger Girls may be set in a dystopia, but reality can reflect parts of the setting, where girls are mistreated just because of their birth year or things that aren't within their control,' she said. It's stories like these – grounded in Asian culture and perspectives – that Low is passionate about. It's why she believes being a comic artist in Singapore is meaningful and necessary. 'Comics are also an accessible way for people to discuss taboo topics,' Low said. In the case of Tiger Girls, Low and Low-Jimenez explored the subtle yet insidious ways women are discriminated against, even in seemingly progressive societies in Asia. Part of her work involves collaborating with other artists, writers and publishers to create stories. For instance, Low collaborated with content platform Think Tank Studio on a comic series called Essential Jobs. The series explored the complex issue of labour exploitation in seemingly glamorous industries such as social media, fashion, and tourism, which thrive on the mistreatment of workers by underpaying them or co-opting their stories. 'Through comics, people are better able to stomach darker and heavier themes, and the emotional blow of reading them is also softer,' she said. 'The visual art, the pacing, the colours – all of these can make people want to know more about the comic's world and its characters, and make them reflect on the taboo topics better.' It's through comics that audiences can find out more about mature themes like war, violence and abuse, too, she added. 'Whenever I tell others I work at a local comic book publisher, people always react with, 'What? There's a comic book publisher in Singapore?',' she said. 'And while hearing that can get a little disheartening, everyone on the team just takes it in stride – it reminds us why our work is so important. 'Through us, people can get to know comics served with local flavour. We're here to fill in that gap and tell more Singapore and Southeast Asian stories, even and especially the heavier ones, for the masses.' Comics have rekindled Low's love for reading: 'People who may be in a reading slump for years but still love or are interested in reading can get into it again by picking up a comic book.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Difference Engine (@differenceenginesg) 'Comics can be for all audiences – from slow or young readers to people who are so busy they can only read stories on their phones,' Low said. 'They are as much visual art as they are written stories, and so many can be easily read on devices.' One way this happens, Low said, is through webcomics, also called online comics or internet comics. These are often compared to self-published print comics, as anyone with an internet connection and a worthy idea can publish a webcomic. Popular platforms, which can be on a website or mobile app, include Webtoon or ComicFury. 'The format is such that you read it by scrolling through your phone or iPad, so the possibilities of exploring different stories are endless,' Low said. 'I love this format and I think more artists and readers should explore it.' She explained that webcomic artists can use the scroll function to reflect different experiences from a character's perspective. For example, if a character is falling, that can be expressed through a sudden jump between panels. If a character is lost in thought or seeking silence, the artist could include blank panels or empty thought bubbles that scroll on endlessly. 'Webcomics and comic books in general are getting increasingly popular,' Low said. 'It's cool to see how different forms of stories are being shared so more people can experience reading differently.' HUMAN-MADE ART IS HERE TO STAY In an era defined by artificial intelligence (AI) – where both human writing and artistic creativity are increasingly under threat – Low's comics and her passion for drawing, designing and illustrating stories is more vital than ever, she said. 'It's more than just 'drawing and doodling on pieces of paper',' she added. 'Despite whatever people say about AI, I want to hold on to the belief that it'll never take over the arts.' Comics, she pointed out, are highly technical and not just fun to make. Artists put in a lot of effort to create them, and there are methods to ensure consistency in a character's appearance across different panels, regardless of poses or facial expressions. Even choosing the colours and the angle from which to draw characters is a thoughtful process, Low said. 'In Tiger Girls, I knew I wanted Suling to be more approachable, and Nadia to be more reserved and serious, so I reflected these traits in their character design elements: Suling has softer looks and more curves, whereas Nadia has sharper and angular features.' Some panels can take Low from a few minutes to several hours to draw and re-draw, to get right. Some chapters may take days. 'People make the mistake of thinking that the arts, like writing stories or illustrating comics, is only about the end product, like a finished book or novel,' she said. 'But art isn't just a commodity – it's a form of expression. And people are happy to financially, emotionally and morally support other people who put in the effort and time to create something based on their style and creativity. 'As comic book artists, our work isn't fading away at all. We're here to stay and to keep sharing as many stories as we can.'
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Commentary: Nintendo's secret for the Switch 2? Ignore the extremely online
TOKYO: Online, gamers declared the Switch 2 'anti-consumer'. In reality, no one cared. With Nintendo charging US$450 for its new device – and up to US$80 for some games – influencers and TikTokers took to their accounts to warn it was too expensive. Across social media, others decried how new terms of service gave the Japanese firm the ability to remotely disable the latest machine if they detected unauthorised activity. Many games sold in physical packages were, they complained, glorified download codes. Anyone expecting the backlash to dent sales was disappointed. The Switch 2 is not only Nintendo's best-selling device ever, it has become the fastest-selling games console of all time with 3.5 million units snapped up in the first four days alone. Shares have hit record highs. For executives, it's the latest example of an increasingly pertinent lesson: While the internet has given consumers a voice, you must not confuse it for reality. THE NOISE OF THE TERMINALLY ONLINE Separating the signal of genuine consumer sentiment from the noise of the most terminally online is a challenge. Early feedback can often be useful: Sony changed the design of the original 'boomerang' PlayStation 3 controller after online mockery; Nintendo itself should have responded quicker to complaints about broken original Switch controllers. But frequently, digital conversation is divorced from actual consumer behaviour. Consider how, as smartphones grew larger during the 2010s, online users demanded smaller devices that could be easily used with one hand – something Steve Jobs had championed before his death. But when Apple finally responded with the iPhone Mini in 2020, those users simply didn't show up in large numbers, and it was discontinued in 2023. Having coined the slogan 'think different', Apple is used to facing down fuss, from its removal of MacBook disk drives to abandoning the headphone jack. Nonetheless, in the noise there is sometimes signal – the firm ignored the iPhone 4 'Antennagate' issue for much too long and was forced into an embarrassing climbdown. Online communities are frequently too far in the weeds to represent the average consumer. On social media, advocates for preserving physical games are upset with the Switch 2's Game Key cards, which are essentially just a code to download the game from the internet. The move is good for software makers, who pay less for the memory cartridge, but in future years means Nintendo will have to keep those downloads available. Still, it's a niche issue: The average Switch 2 buyer, raised on Netflix and Spotify, likely couldn't care less about physical ownership of most games. KNOWING WHO TO IGNORE It's also increasingly hard to isolate genuine fan engagement from click-chasing rage-bait. Online revenue-sharing creates incentive for insincere actors to generate controversy that often matters little to the wider public. There was much ink spilled and calls for boycotts ahead of the launch of Warner Bros' Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy, owing to author JK Rowling's views on gender and trans issues. None of that stopped it becoming one of the best-selling of all time. Meanwhile, right-leaning activists have led backlashes over Sony's The Last of Us Part II (decried for inclusive changes from the first game, including a lesbian protagonist and transgender character) and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows (due to its choice of a Black samurai hero) that have had little sales impact. Knowing who to ignore isn't just a tech issue. A growing theory among those on the political left posits that the movement's failure to stop the election of US President Donald Trump could be due to ideological capture by overly active online voices on the fringes – leading politicians to focus on niche concerns of little interest to the majority of voters. Of course, online issues can end up being important. The backlash to faded social network Tumblr's decision to eliminate adult content preceded a decline in popularity that saw it sold for a fraction of the US$1.1 billion it cost in 2013. The #MeToo movement emerged from testimonies shared over social media to become a worldwide phenomenon. And indeed, much of the success of the Switch itself comes from Nintendo's responding to gamers' complaints about its predecessor, the Wii U. But consumers often simply don't know what they want. Henry Ford may not have actually said that if he'd asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. But it's nonetheless true that users will say one thing when their revealed preferences show otherwise. Social media is acclaimed as the 'global town square' where grand ideas are debated and exchanged. But in reality, it's often more like a crowded bar – where the loudest voice usually isn't the one you should pay attention to.
CNA
10 hours ago
- CNA
Asia Tonight - Wed 25 Jun 2025
49:09 Min Asia Tonight About the show: Top stories of the day with 'live' reports and interviews to keep you up-to-date on what's happening in one of the most dynamic regions of the world.
