Millions have seen their work. It all began at NTU.
Once students at NTU navigating their futures, these three alumni have since had their art seen by millions – including 7 million uses of a single Telegram sticker pack – from Ang Mo Kio to Zagreb.
Text: Vivien Yap | Photos: Jolene Tan, Ho Jun Sheng, Clio Chuang
Jolene Tan, Jun Sheng and Clio Chuang came to illustration through three very different degrees – animation, biological sciences and engineering.
Where it started: learning the craft, and the first sale
Jolene entered NTU's School of Art, Design and Media with no experience in motion design. It was in the Design in Motion module, under Senior Lecturer Candice Ng, that she first learnt to animate using After Effects.
"I was a total beginner back then and Prof Candice taught in a way that was easy to follow. She was always encouraging, which gave me a lot of confidence and is part of how I ended up building my career in motion design," says Jolene.
Jun Sheng and Clio made their start differently – through student booths that put their work in front of the NTU community for the first time.
Jun Sheng, now known for his illustrated character Mito and a regular at art fairs across Singapore, got his start when his hall offered him a table at a hall event, laying out a few stickers and postcards for fellow students to browse.
Then and now: (Left) Jun Sheng’s first booth at an NTU hall event featured a simple set-up with limited wares. (Right) Today, he is a regular at art fairs around Singapore.
Clio's first booth was at the NTU Arts Festival, where she sold stickers and prints of her own illustrations. " Watching people take an interest in my work made me realise that my art had value to other people," she recalls.
Clio (left) showcasing her illustrations at the NTU Arts Festival.
Two disciplines, one practice
For Jun Sheng and Clio, illustration developed alongside their chosen degrees rather than apart from them.
Jun Sheng studied biological sciences at NTU’s School of Biological Sciences, drawing purely for fun on the side, until his academic projects brought illustration and science together.
Jun Sheng’s research project for URECA Undergraduate Research Programme combined his interest for biology and science with his skills in illustration.
Designing diagrams for research papers taught him how to distil complex ideas into illustrations a general reader could follow.
Jun Sheng sharpened this skill at his first job at an international biopharmaceutical company, translating complicated product information into illustrations for healthcare professionals.
As an alumna of Information Engineering & Media, Clio learnt to combine technical engineering knowledge with art theory and practice, often taking the lead on design in collaborative software projects. She now works as a UX Architect at the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). "I really love talking to people and finding out how what we designed in our products impacts them," she says.
Jolene's own turning point came in her final year, when a short film she animated with two coursemates was selected for the Zagreb Animafest, a well-known international animation festival. NTU sponsored the trip, giving her the chance to travel to Croatia and see the work of animators from around the world.
In 2018, Jolene watched from the audience as her groupmate, Minhao (second from left), represented their student film and took part in a panel discussion at Zagreb Animafest.
"After the festival, I started to develop my own style. I used more geometric shapes and focused less on realism, a style that is closer to what I do now,” she says.
From campus to public spaces
For all three alumni, small, school-based beginnings have since scaled into public art.
Jolene's animations have run on screens across selected trains as part of Poems on the MRT, a National Arts Council initiative spotlighting local literature through excerpts of Singapore poetry displayed across selected train networks from 2025 to 2026, making stops at Ang Mo Kio, Dhoby Ghaut, Pioneer and more.
Clio's illustrations have appeared on cups for bubble tea brand LiHO and on the walls of fast-food chain Wingstop, as part of Singapore Art Week 2026.
Jun Sheng's Mito, an alien creature first sketched as a doodle on his personal Instagram account, was printed onto a life-size double-decker bus in 2025, produced with transport collectibles company KenShop, to mark Singapore's 60th birthday.
"Seeing Mito on a double-decker bus, blown up that large, was surreal," says Jun Sheng, reflecting on how far the character has come since his first Instagram sketches.
Beyond their public art, all three alumni are also making waves across various mediums.
Jun Sheng's digital stickers of Mito have been used over 7 million times on Telegram, while Clio’s illustrations have been incorporated into an interactive set design for theatre production “A Monster Calls” by Singapore Repertory Theatre. Jolene’s animated short “Dear My Two Sons” for media company Our Grandfather Story won multiple awards, including “The Motion Awards” by Motionographer in 2020, an internationally recognised award for motion design.
Full circle, and what comes next
Jolene's journey has come full circle. Invited back to her alma mater by Senior Lecturer Candice Ng, she now teaches the same module that kickstarted her own career, passing on the same foundation her professor once gave her to a new generation of students.
Jun Sheng is focused on developing Mito full-time, growing his range of products and merchandise. He hopes to use the character to explain educational concepts to a general audience, a continuation of the scientific communication work he still finds meaningful.
Clio remains focused on her full-time career in UX, but hopes to take on more collaborative projects where she can design and engineer alongside others.
Know NTU alumni with a story worth telling? Write to us at u-alumnimag@ntu.edu.sg.
