WOWCARDSTUDIO’s co-founder and lead artist Li En has won 1st runner-up at the prestigious Wacom Digital Drawing Competition — Rising Artist Challenge Open Category, beating out 100+ applicants across Singapore.
His entry, inspired by Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, brought comic relief and ‘smiles in the judges’ minds.
The event
The event was held on the 7th of October, 2023, at Bras Basah Complex, which drew many a talented digital artist from across Singapore. Organised by Wacom in collaboration with Popular, Lenovo, ASUS, Logitech, Kloxia, and Inkfusion, the competition featured the Student and Open categories. Of the 100+ applicants who took part, only the top 10 advanced to the live competition, where they were given an hour to create a masterpiece.
The theme for the Open category was ‘The Power of One’, where artists were challenge to ’embody legendary characters and their trusty tools’. Participants were tasked with ‘infusing symbolic power’ into their artwork, ‘weaving mythical narratives’, and ‘demonstrating artistic mastery’ using Wacom One technology.
The judges were esteemed artists Lester Lim, Frank Seet, and Derrick Song. Three criteria were used for evaluation: symbolic power, mythical narratives, and artistic mastery.
The competition theme led me to recall iconic heroic figures from my childhood memory. Sun Wukong from Journey to the West immediately came to mind. I then conceptualised a vision where he takes a ‘journey to the west’, where he rides the MRT train westbound. But as I didn’t want a literal drawing, I decided to depict a man with the essence and energy of Sun. There is then room and fun for the audience to read into the character. The addition of Sun’s comrades amplifies the storytelling.