Amongst the dozens of stalls selling wanton noodles, chicken rice, roast meats, biryani, roti prata, beef soup, braised pork and other Singapore culinary delights at Maxwell Food Centre, keep your nose up for the delicate but sharp smell of fish head bee hoon in the air. The elderly couple preparing their signature dish have inadvertently cracked some sort of creative code, as all three of their children have found a career within the creative industry.
Two of the brothers are in interior design, while 32-year-old Dave Oh Jia Hao, better known by his online handle, @Lioncolony, has built a solid reputation with his digital creations across 2D and 3D designs, motion visualisation and more, working with famed international brands including Gucci, Marina Bay Sands and more recently, Chinese toy company, Pop Mart of Labubu fame.
The former Anderson Primary and Yio Chu Kang Secondary School student is also the founder of an independent motion graphics studio of the same name, building and honing the creative craft that has been a part of his childhood, when he was doodling and “sketching my own book of different characters I could think up, and create my own universe of creatures”, based on his early love for the Pokémon and Digimon franchise.
“When I was younger, I was always inspired by IPs like Pokémon and Digimon, not just because they were trending then, but because of the abundance of characters and the effort behind creating each design,” explains Oh in an interview with Geek Culture.
And that love for design, particularly Japanese-inspired ones, grew and the inspiration behind his decade-long list of works can be traced back to the works of contemporary Japanese artists like Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama, whose distinct styles have gained international recognition. Murakami is known for blending pop culture with traditional Japanese art, while Kusama is famed for her vibrant and immersive installations.
Unsurprisingly, his work for Pop Mart consists of an animated short for the brand’s Space Molly, a spacesuit-wearing character from its MEGA Collection, featuring a female astronaut in different designs that has become iconic among collectors. It is part of the current MEGA SPACE MOLLY: Hello, Moon Exhibition at ION Art Gallery until August 24, before it travels across Asia until October, with stops in several countries including Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea.
“I think this has always been innate for me, as I’ve always loved creating art pieces,” he explains.
“Pop Mart approached me in May to explore a local spin to Mega Space Molly as part of the upcoming exhibition, and I was intrigued by the concept and storytelling of this adventurous girl. As I typically work in the digital art space, I was excited about the unique opportunity for my work to be on display in a physical space.”
It was only later that he found out that he was the only Singaporean artist invited to be a part of this regional showcase.
“(It’s) a little proud moment for me, and just in time for SG60,” enthuses the Nanyang Polytechnic Digital Media Design (Animation) graduate, who also has a Specialist Diploma in Visual Effects from the same award-winning post-secondary education institution.
This has been a professional journey that he’s been on since 2014, and he credits his success to several factors, including secondary school teachers and lecturers who taught him the basics, when he was part of Co-Curricular Activities for 3D Animation, as well as his parents.
“They’ve always been supportive of my career choices and paths I have chosen in life,” he says.
Naturally, there have been challenges, including the evolving nature of animation and design that outpaced what he learned in school.
“I graduated from an animation course in polytechnic, and motion graphics was a bit different from what I learned in school,” he notes, of the trajectory that brought him towards digital design.
“Back then, the competition was fierce, so I applied for jobs in both fields after I completed my National Service. It was a huge relief when I landed my first job in the industry, and it was a chance to gain more experience and have a stable income.”
Despite working with well-known brands and making a splash on social media with his creative works, including his Gbears or gummy bears that have become his signature in his creative works, Oh remains characteristically modest about his achievements, especially in establishing one of the nation’s most well-known digital design brands.
“I wouldn’t claim to have made it at this stage, but I felt a sense of accomplishment when clients started using my work as references.”
These days, he’s also looking at ways to hone his digital skills, especially with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) that some critics claim will be detrimental to the creative industries. On his part, Oh maintains a thoughtful stance and regards AI as “a bridge between the artist and technology”, rather than a rival to human artistry.
“I think AI is here to stay. Artists will need to become even more distinctive, to have this separation between art and AI.”
To this end, one notable shift he has made is in his workflow, as the long-time PC user recently made the move to the Apple ecosystem, with his Space Molly work marking the first time in his career that he has designed something entirely away from Windows.
“I created the short myself, from start to finish. I just love creating thematic, character-based concepts, and wanted to also challenge myself to create this entirely on the Apple ecosystem, after a decade of using PC,” he explains.
“I was definitely sceptical at first, but heard great things about the efficiency of the new generation of Mac Studio with M3 Ultra and, of course, the colour accuracy on Studio Display. I was already an iPad user to begin with, so the Mac Studio integrated seamlessly into my workflow, and allowed me to just transfer everything between my different hardware without even needing to access the cloud.”
The end result? The switch to the Apple ecosystem was seamless, and “it did cut down a fair bit of time,” he notes, of switching to Apple’s hardware and software.
Thus, he could spend more of the four-week window he had on this project, to blend the recognisable aesthetics of an established character with those of his own, to meet the creative guidelines of this partnership with Pop Mart.
“We had initial concepts where we replaced the helmet, but had to respect the original silhouette of Mega Space Molly,” he explains, and that’s where fans would recognise his Gbears emerging, where the iconic ears of his gummy creations were integrated into Space Molly’s helmet design.
“In the design of the suit, I also wanted a bit of fuzziness, and the candy likeness of Gummy bears, and I was able to cycle through different colours of the same suit,” he explains.
“My short was based on the idea of space-ception, with Space Molly in a spaceship herself, and Space Molly a spaceship for Gbears. They’re part of a group called National Space Association, or NSA for short, who are space explorers in the Lioncolony universe.
So what’s next for the boy who once drew imaginary creatures in exercise books? The potential lies beyond creative works, and towards original IP development, he enthuses.
“Much like how figurines like Labubu and Space Molly have become ‘household’ names, I’d love to one day bring my own Lioncolony creations to life, and see everyone own one.”
Dave Oh Jia Hao’s work can be found at @Lioncolony across social platforms.
Oh is just one of the six local talents engaged by international companies. You can read our main story here, as our Little Red Dot celebrates not just 60 years of nation-building, but also the up-and-coming creators who are taking their work from our shores and on to the global stage. You can also read about comic artist Elvin Ching, illustrator Kang Jing and character designer Nguyễn Khanh Duy.
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?
Kevin Low
Destro
