Jennifer Chuu: The Comic Artist

Guest: Jennifer Chuu — Comic Artist and WriterBased: NomadicJennifer Chuu didn't want to go to university. Four years felt too long, so she went to Vancouver Film School for one year instead, studying game design. Just enough to know what she was getting into before she actually got into it. Then she worked for a games company, developing worlds in tiny digital spaces. Sometimes she designed pet habitats for a game called Dream Pet House. Sometimes she created characters and assets she loved. The work was solid. It paid well. But it was also strategic. Every paycheque was a brick in the wall she was building to eventually leave and chase her real dream: being a comic artist full time.When she got laid off at 23, she didn't panic. She had savings. She had time. She had hunger. She told her parents: give me one year. One year to debut herself in Taiwan as a full-time comic artist. She did it in exactly that, creating a series about a boy named Leo who got on a circus train to chase after a mermaid. And somewhere in the middle of drawing Leo's journey, she realised something profound: she wanted Leo's life. She wanted to travel and work like he did. She wanted to see what was beyond her own fish tank.Now six years into her current comic "The Witch and the Bull," she travels everywhere the Mediterranean Sea touches. Not to escape her work, but to deepen it. Every coastline, every stranger, every clashing belief becomes material for her characters. She's learned that discomfort is where growth happens. That your characters hold pieces of your consciousness. That living your story doesn't mean you have to sacrifice telling it. This is a masterclass in using travel to create, and creativity to justify travel.Timestamps00:00 Introduction to Digital Nomad Stories podcast00:37 Ibi's introduction to Jennifer's unique journey01:08 Overview of Jennifer's story and \"The Witch and the Bull\01:34 Transition into main conversation01:46 Jennifer works on comics, currently six years into \"The Witch and the Bull\02:07 Game artist career in New York for eight years02:40 Working for Zynga creating 2D game assets03:14 Designing pet habitats and environments for Dream Pet House03:32 Jennifer's favourite design: detective Dutch hound house04:13 Passion in game design versus other game companies04:52 Laid off at Zynga, decision to pursue comic artist dream05:22 Game artist job as savings strategy for dream05:54 Vancouver Film School one-year game design course06:18 Entering manga contests and parents' concerns about career06:50 Parents asking for commitment, one year to debut in Taiwan07:29 Creating circus train mermaid series over two years08:01 Taiwan publication through Japanese company, webtoon format08:54 Webtoon digital scrolling format versus traditional pages09:00 [Publishing the Taiwan series and moving forward]09:30 [First travel experience and Croatia inspiration]10:30 [Character Leo inspiring real-life travel]Remaining timestamps are in the full write-up linked below.Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/jennifer-chuuWatch: https://youtu.be/9CLSISbJ9qY