From Student to Comic Queen

Evangeline at the launch of her second book in Kinokuniya bookstore, Ngee Ann City

Evangeline Neo graduated from Nanyang Polytechnic in 2001 with a Diploma in Digital Media Design. In 2003, she was awarded a Media Development Authority scholarship to pursue a degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, United States. She continued her studies under a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan) scholarship and returned with a Masters in Business Administration from the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

Today, with her skill sets grounded during her NYP days, she is a popular comic artist who publishes her own works online under her brand Evacomics. With more than 98,000 followers on her Facebook page, you can gather the level of popularity she enjoys in the world of comics. Hard copies of her books are even available in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.

In 2014, she published her first comic book, "Eva, Kopi and Matcha", which depicts and satirises the cultural differences between Singapore and Japan. The book captured much media attention and she was invited to speak at bookstores such as Kinokuniya, Books Actually and Popular�s, and at events such as the Singapore Toy Game Comics Convention. TV channel Okto featured her as a mentor to teach comic drawing in the show �Knockout Carnival�.

A sample of Evangeline�s comic works

�My interest in comics only came about when my secondary school classmate introduced me to manga (Japanese comics) and I fell in love with it immediately. I started to draw my own manga and even submitted them to a local comic magazine,� recalls Eva.

After her �O� levels, she was determined to pursue her interest and came to know about NYP�s Diploma in Digital Media Design, which was the closet course that could help her achieve her dream to become a comic artist. More importantly, she found out that the NYP course had lecturers with very strong industry experience and there was also an animation programme with the renowned
Sheridan College in Canada. Naturally, NYP became her first choice when she applied for the course under the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE).

�With the very strong foundation in animation and graphics software, I could easily pick up any software and animate in 2D or 3D,� says Evangeline of the skill sets she picked up from NYP.
During her internship with an automotive engineering company, she used Flash software to do up the company�s website, adding another skill set to her portfolio.

She had strict lecturers but they were very passionate in imparting their knowledge to the students. �We were trained to adhere to deadlines. This is very important when we do freelance projects or work in studios,� says Evangeline.

Her second book �Eva Goes Solo� was recently launched in Kinokuniya with an autograph session that saw a snaking queue! It climbed to the Top 10 list immediately in book stores here and in Malaysia. The new book chronicles her experiences in trying to adapt to life in Japan, such as experiencing an earthquake, hay fever and going to job interviews. The book, as well as �Eva, Kopi and Matcha�, are available in all major bookstores in Singapore and Malaysia.

You can also order them online from Amazon.com or at www.eva.sg where you can also pick up an interesting array of Eva merchandise.

The comic artist in Evangeline took shape in NYP.

Because We Can