Fine Arts and Animation

The Department of Fine Arts and Animation serves to help students gain a firm grasp on the fundamentals of visual arts, developing theoretical and practical skills that can be applied to a variety of media, from video games to film. Students are exposed to both traditional techniques in drawing, ceramics, and painting, as well as modern production tools in 3D design and animation. The department’s faculty are experts in a variety of fields and bring professional backgrounds that include work in film and animation, video game development, comics, and more.

Department Faculty

Calvin Tan Eu Jin

Department Chair
Senior Lecturer

Calvin Tan received his bachelor’s degree in art from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1999.

Calvin is an avid World War II history buff and has been modeling historical-scale figurines since secondary school. He has created several original pieces for scale model companies and collectors, many of which have won gold awards at international competitions. He has also written many instructional articles relating to painting and sculpting miniature figurines for international modeling magazines, as well as an instructional book under Osprey Publishing.

Calvin began his career as an art instructor in 2001 at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) School of Interactive Media and Design. While there, he taught foundational drawing and was solely responsible for the creation of two elective courses — one on polymer clay maquette modeling and another on animal anatomy.

In 2006, Calvin relinquished his full-time role at NYP for an adjunct position to pursue his lifelong passion for modeling scale figurines. He also taught clay sculpting, foundational drawing, and figure drawing at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and conducted several clay sculpting workshops at Lucasfilm Animation – Singapore.

Calvin joined DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore in 2009 as a senior lecturer teaching foundational drawing, human and animal anatomy, and clay maquette modeling.

Calvin Tan Eu Jin teaches the following degree(s): Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation.

Don Low

Associate Professor

Don Low holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Materials Engineering) from Nanyang Technological University and a Bachelor of Arts (Multimedia & Interactive Design) from Curtin University of Technology. In 2005, he was awarded a media scholarship from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (then known as the Media Development Authority) to study overseas. Don used the opportunity to obtain his Master of Fine Arts in Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design in the U.S.

Don’s career as an artist has seen him wear many hats. Upon getting his degree in multimedia design, Don joined a local web company as an art director to produce original animation intellectual property for the web. Thereafter he worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer to produce different corporate materials and magazines for clients. After completing his master’s degree, Don joined Scrawl Studios as its production head to oversee production of a 2D animated series by the studio. Later, Don continued working as a freelance illustrator for clients such as Apple Singapore, Singapore Post, Singapore Press Holdings, Saatchi & Saatchi, and the Ministry of Education. During this time, Dom also taught as an adjunct lecturer and art instruction at various institutions such as DigiPen (Singapore), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Institute of Technology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and Temasek Polytechnic.

Beyond teaching in schools, Don was actively involved in the community and conducted drawing workshops and instructional classes. He also took part as an art instructor at multiple art symposiums that were organized by international art communities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the U.K.

As an artist, Don paints in different traditional mediums such as oils, acrylics, inks, and watercolors. The last is his favorite and he has been regularly exhibiting and selling his work at annual shows such as the Affordable Art Fair.

Don has been featured as a visual artist in two books: The Art of Urban Sketching and An Illustrated Journey: Inspiration From the Private Art Journals of Traveling Artists, Illustrators and Designers.

In 2018, Don was the winner of the SIGGRAPH Asia (Tokyo) character design contest. That year, he also authored and published a graphic novel title Kungfu Dough.

At DigiPen (Singapore), Don teaches drawing and painting in the traditional mediums, art processes, tone, color, and composition.

Don Low teaches the following degree(s): Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Game Design, Bachelor of Arts in User Experience and Game Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation.

Dominic Chang Yeat Cheng

Senior Lecturer

Dominic Chang earned a BS in Construction Management and worked as a civil engineer for three years while saving up to attend animation school at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada.

After receiving his diploma in classical animation, Dominic returned to Singapore to work at Southern Star as a 2D animator and at Scrawl Studios as lead storyboard artist. He would go on to become animation director on the Shelldon CG animated series at Tiny Island Productions and was one of the driving creative forces behind the series Dream Defenders.

Dominic devotes whatever spare time he has to figure drawing, and he has participated in art exhibitions with Group 90 alongside other Singaporean artists.

Dominic Chang Yeat Cheng teaches the following degree(s): Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation.

Keh Choon Wee

Lecturer

Keh Choon Wee graduated with a Diploma in Digital Media Design (with merit) from Nanyang Polytechnic. He has worked in the international animation and games industry for over 12 years with experience in directing, creating conceptual designs, animation, storyboarding, 3D modeling, and texturing, as well as creating VFX for games.

Choon Wee’s versatility, keen sense of aesthetics, and eye for detail has seen him contribute to numerous animation and games production pipelines over the years. This has included conceptual designs on Weta Production’s Jane and the Dragon children’s TV series; storyboards and direction on a few episodes of Scrawl Studio’s The New Adventures of Nanoboy and Milly, Molly; and work on LucasArts’ titles including Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I and II (modeling, texturing, VFX), Monkey Island 2: Special Edition (VFX, BG artist), The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance and Republic Heroes (rigger, environment, VFX), and Star Wars: The First Assault (VFX).

After six years with LucasArts Singapore, Choon Wee joined Beach House Pictures in 2013 as the creative lead of the animation and digital department, where he was responsible for its overall art direction, animation, and conceptual designs. He also spearheaded projects for the ZooMoo network and the ZooMoo App.

During his spare time, he continues to draw comics, illustrations, and character designs, and he has self-published his own sketchbooks since 2012.

Keh Choon Wee teaches the following degree(s): Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation.

Gavin Lim

Adjunct Lecturer

Gavin Lim holds a Diploma in Visual Communication from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

Gavin has 30 years of knowledge and experience in the media and marketing industries. He used to run his own advertising agency before switching to film and TV production.

Gavin is currently writing a book on directing for film and TV in Singapore. He also runs the podcast series Film Directors Workshop that is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other global podcast platforms.

As an adjunct lecturer at DigiPen (Singapore), Gavin teaches modules in storyboarding and cinematography. He enjoys working with students and seeing them gain new skills and perspectives. Ultimately, he hopes to see them graduate and do well in the industry.

Gavin Lim teaches the following degree(s): Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation.