Hey! I’m Eugene Tham, a Malaysian born and raised in Johor before moving to Kuala Lumpur to study and work as a graphic designer.
I've always been a visual person, and I knew I wanted to be a visual artist or designer of some kind ever since I was young. I wasn't the best student in school or the smartest in my family, and growing up in a Chinese household where you're constantly compared to your siblings or cousins isn't the most pleasant feeling. You may argue that I could have studied more in my spare time, but I wasn't interested at all. Instead, I would always take a blank piece of paper to sketch on. Any cool stuff I saw on TV, I would always sketch down and feel very content as if I had "owned" that item (a little psycho but yeah).
Despite being in this industry for several years now, I feel there is still so much more to learn, especially with the incoming Artificial Intelligence that will drastically change the industry. That is why I continue to put myself out there in search of more creative mediums to explore other than flat graphics and venture into motion and film-like video or cinematography which I was heavily inspired by in my photography works. It was a never-ending journey and I am excited about what will come next!
I am an introvert most of the time. As a child who struggled to articulate himself through words, sketching was always the best way for me to get my thoughts down on paper. Although I had nothing to be proud of in my academics, getting compliments on my drawings from friends and family brought me a lot of joy and confidence in myself, and helped me recognise "Hey, I'm not that useless after all!". I knew then that making art was the road I wanted to pursue. With the help and encouragement of my family, I was able to travel to Kuala Lumpur and complete my studies in Advertising & Graphic Design at The One Academy College.
I discovered that a key difference between art and design is that art is all about self-expression, whereas design is more about problem-solving, both are equally important to me later in life. Throughout my undergraduate studies, I helped my friends and family in creating designs and along the way, I realised that I enjoyed the process more than I thought, seeing what others managed to achieve with my design gave me a feeling of purpose and fulfilment. Soon after, I began to take on some freelance while having my full-time job. I also constantly making art, doing my sketches and drawings through digital painting to fulfil my passion, you can have a look at some of my artworks here!