LKY of heroic proportions

Chan Shiuan

Caricaturist

WHAT do Lee Kuan Yew and Yoda from Star Wars have in common? "Wisdom and foresight", one might answer. It's perhaps apt that illustrator Chan Shiuan has combined Singapore's founding father with the green-coloured Jedi Master who leads the fight against the evil Empire.

Ms Chan has depicted Mr Lee as other popular fictional characters too, such as Magneto from X-Men and Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones. She says, "I stay clear of cartoon characters that would make Mr Lee look silly, out of respect for him."

The 27-year-old was an air stewardess with Singapore Airlines for five years before quitting in 2013 to become a full-time artist.

While she was taking an online caricature class with top caricaturist Jason Seiler last year, a friend approached her to share a booth with him for the Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention.

"The entire project was made to have something fresh for my debut at the Convention," she says. "But it was so well-received that I ended up with 150 back-orders."

She says, "Mr Lee is an intriguing and well-known local personality, and I thought it could be interesting to do a mash-up with other well-known fictional characters. . . It was an attempt to do something heartfelt and different with a local flavour."

The caricatures are made digitally on A3 canvases with a resolution of 300dpi. She says: "I usually start by gathering reference photos, then do a few pencil sketches to identify what makes the person distinctive. I then do a digital sketch and go from there." The entire process takes about five days. Rendering the prints digitally allows her to reproduce copies of it. She says, "The good thing about that is that it is affordable, and everyone can get a piece of it. . . a little LKY in everyone's home, imagine that!"

Chan's A3 prints, complete with a title and quote, are priced at S$10, while the entire set of five in a smaller size is available for S$25. They are available for sale on her website shiuan.ninja