IT all started in a simple and humble way. When I was in primary school, I scribbled a lot in all my textbooks. Pictures of cartoon characters and monsters were my trademarks. Over the years in school, I began to realise that this was my talent. With my parents’ encouragement and support, I nurtured this talent, with a big dream in my heart. But, there were many obstacles to realising the dream, due to my family’s financial situation.

I come from a family of six boisterous boys, and I am the second child. My parents brought us up with love, joy and gave us what we needed in life. However, I knew they couldn’t afford the high cost of an art education for me.

But that didn’t stop me from making the best of whatever opportunities I had. I was a member of the art club in secondary school, and we were given the task of coming up with an art project.

A friend and I decided to come up with a comic book. Everything was created from scratch; the characters, the script, the story line, etc. The result? Sixty pages of illustrations, which were then sold in my school and others as well.

One of the main reasons I love art is the satisfaction you get from the outcome, especially when you see others enjoying and appreciating your work.

Wong Eddron, aspiring artist.

After I finished secondary school, I went to work in a shop that sells comic books, videos, toy figurines and others, hoping to save enough money to further my studies. My employer knew of my dream and encouraged me by giving me opportunities to practise my art and earn some extra income such as designing the banners and flyers for the shop.

Applying and receiving the Honda Dream Fund scholarship was a turning point for me. I am now pursuing my diploma in illustration at The One Academy in Selangor.

I can still remember the day in college when my lecturer showed us how placement, messages and graphics are important in capturing readers’ attention. Coincidently, one of the samples he showed us was the Honda Dreams Fund advertisement and featured on it were the 2007 scholars, me included. This scholarship has changed my life in certain ways, but my values still remain the same. I have learnt to not take things for granted, as this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

I try to save my money so that I can buy some of the stationery and equipment needed for my course by eating instant noodles and bread packed from my hostel during lunchtime, till I am now known as “The Bread Man” among my course mates!

My future used to be a blur to me but now, I see myself working hard to be a successful and well-known artist. It doesn’t matter what I’ll be – cartoonist, graphic designer, illustrator – as long as I am doing what I love to do. I am inspired by local art magazine Gempak Starz and also local artist Kinsun Loh, a professional illustrator. Being an artist requires talent. My ultimate dream is to one day set up my own studio and train young talents who are passionate but without the means to further their studies, like how I used to be.

The Honda Dreams Fund comes with a package full of opportunities. I dreamt, I reached out and now I am on my way to becoming a successful artist.