Last weekend, I went to the Comic Art Festival Kuala Lumpur (CAFKL). It was my first time there and a lot bigger than I expected. There were over 240 artists in total. Some were internationally-known, others were regulars from similar art events. But today, I want to talk about 2 local artists and 1 coaching programme.

Let's begin:

Modern Day Puppetry

He occupied a sizeable corner in the event which is why the first thing that struck me was the wall of his artwork. The second, was his thoughtfully designed booth: a humble looking stall with folklore curtains and tiny trinkets and charms from local cultures. I was so in the moment, I didn't take any pictures.

As I looked through a basket of his artwork, my first thoughts were wayang kulit. It's an ancient form of storytelling through shadow puppetry. My impression of it has always been dark, unsettling and a little eerie, but I was surprised to see how he had flipped that narrative.

Between the silhouette of pop culture characters such as Tanjiro from Demon Slayers, Kratos from GoW and Ed Elric from FMA, I think he's found a beautiful way to blend muted colours and crispy textures that honour the Southeast Asian culture. His work for Aang (Avatar) is my favourite.

Aspiring Mangaka

At first, I was subconsciously drawn to this man's artwork because I was looking for a gift for my brother. On the surface, he looked like any anime manga fan artist: JJK, Demon Slayers and Chainsaw Man. It wasn't until I saw this giant metallic poster with the Hashiras from Demon Slayers jumping Kokushibo, that I knew he had put thought into the utility of his artwork.

Just as I brought it up, he shared a giant desk pad with his drawings on it. In a sea of anime artists sharing stickers and postcards, I thought his approach was bold and appealing. Because of that, I decided to stay and talk about his work.

As he shared his artwork with me and the pursuit of writing his manga, my eyes were mesmerised by the details. In it, I saw the precision of angles through playful compositions and dynamic silhouettes. On top of that, I think his print qualities were excellent in product and process – I'm rooting for him.

I hope you do too, his username is @lamboski98. He writes his own manga that's called called Bansho Zen'i and I think his CSM artwork is severely underrated. Look:

Anime x Fitness

This last one didn't even have a booth. I found it inside the CAFKL booklet as one of the only two print ads within. The concept intrigued me because it is exactly how I started my fitness journey: through anime. And seeing this stranger with the physique of Zoro made me .

So, I visited their website and looked up the definition of Miyabi (雅). Roughly speaking, it translates to elegance, refinement or grace in English. But in Japanese, it holds a deeper meaning as it's an ancient ideal representing the pinnacle of mannerisms and aesthetics through process elimination. It's the anti-thesis to wabi-sabi. Pretty cool, right?

I know bringing anime and fitness together isn't new, but I found this piece of knowledge worth sharing because I like Japanese philosophies and I think it was a smart place to advertise. As someone who loves anime and fitness, they've got my attention and now, I'm curious to know more. Who knows? I might just give them a call.

There aren't enough words on this blog for everyone I found interesting so before I wrap this blog up, I gotta give these people their flowers for their creativity too: @powocy_ @kacheongartz @ahnitol @darkestcube.

Overall, I had a great first experience. I'd prefer if it was less crowded but that's just something I'll have to work around for the next one.