Rising Stars: Meet Chun Kit Fong of Santa Clarita

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chun Kit Fong.

Hi Chun Kit, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I think my passion for art stemmed from very supportive teachers and classmates during my time in secondary school and junior college (middle and high school equivalent). Growing up in Singapore, art had always been seen as an ‘extra-curricular’ subject – especially so in my school which predominantly focuses on STEM subjects. However, the art community was always the one I resonated with the most. The first time I even considered pursuing art as a career was when my art teacher invited his former student, now a 3D animator in the US, to give a lecture. While his experiences felt so foreign and far fetched, it definitely planted the seeds of possibility in my head.

After completing my IB diploma, my friends gifted me a drawing tablet for my birthday. Thanks to COVID, I had plenty of time to dip my toes into digital art and really immerse myself in the community. It was a great time to connect with other artists and hone my skills. A lot of the artists I discovered at that time still have a huge influence on my art, such as Kat Tsai, Kevin Dart, and Lee Xin Li. Like many other artists, a lot of the early artworks I made were fanart. The sudden abundance of time during COVID had me rekindling my love of shows like Avatar The Last Airbender and Adventure Time, and I was also really deep into Animal Crossing, so I made tons of fanart. On that note, even though I’d been attending art classes formally in school, I’ve actually shied away from using colour the entire time! I refused to use anything other than graphite or charcoal. I had to pick up colour from scratch when I first started doing digital art and it was a huge learning curve.

Following this, I completed my two years of mandatory military service and enrolled into Calarts in the fall of 2022. For the first time in my life, I was in an environment surrounded by creatives, and the pressure to perform felt immense! But it is this kind of environment that expedites the learning process, and I’ve already learnt so much from my teachers and peers during the past 2.5 years.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of my biggest struggles was definitely going through 2 years of military service. Being in a high stress environment was mentally and physically draining, and most weekends I found myself too exhausted to do anything. On top of that, the art colleges I planned on applying to didn’t allow deferred enrolment, which meant I had to complete my college applications during my service. This meant putting together a portfolio of artwork, as well as other application requirements that differ by college like finishing a sketchbook or doing a storyboard test with given characters.. I honestly can’t really remember how I pulled through, especially with the application for Calarts being so demanding. I think it helped that drawing served as a form of stress relief and reflection. It was also a huge blessing that my enlistment got delayed by half a year due to COVID, and I was able to dedicate so much of that time to improving my skills and creating tons of pieces which could go to my portfolio.
The whole idea of going to the States to pursue animation felt impossible at that time, and so many things lined up perfectly to get me to where I am now. I’m so thankful for the support I received from my teachers, friends and family during this time.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
When I first started illustrating, I was really into capturing moments of life using lighting and colour to really set the mood. However, the past two years in school developed my interest in 2d animation, story and compositing as well. Creating an animated short film every year in school is also really fulfilling! For now, I’ll just enjoy being able to dabble in different fields of animation in school.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Please feel free to dm me on instagram @ckuuart, or email me at ckuuart@gmail.com!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chunkitfong.myportfolio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ckuuart/