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Charles Santoso: Drawing hope
Charles Santoso (A
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Charles Santoso (A. Kurniawan Ulung)
As a guest of the 2017 Popcon Asia event in Jakarta, Indonesian-born illustrator and designer Charles Santoso shares with us his wonder-filled vision of bringing smiles to the faces of children everywhere.
Charles Santoso’s works exude hope and positivity in every colorful stroke, thereby giving a priceless slice of happiness in even the bleakest parts of stories.
Born and raised in Bandung, the illustrator spent one semester at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) before studying design at Sydney’s University of New South Wales.
He has lent his ideas and artistic touch to several known animated films, such as 2010’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole, 2013’s The LEGO Movie and 2017’s The LEGO Batman Movie.
As a digital artist, the 36-year-old also took part in Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 fanciful remake of Fitzgerald classic The Great Gatsby, which starred Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
It was in Australia, which he now calls home, that his career in bringing children’s fantasies to life on the big screen started, first by joining the Animal Logic studio in 2008 as part of its concept artist team for the next three-and-a-half years.
Charles said his hobby of drawing ushered him to the Animal Logic, one of the world’s most creative digital studios producing award-winning, groundbreaking animation, visual effects and design.
Before working for Animal Logic, he worked at a graphic design company and moonlighted as a concept artist for his personal projects, later giving him a way to get hired by the studio.
Charles has helmed the job of concept designer for most of his career, taking on projects wherever he feels have them, keeping an open mind toward whom he is creating for as long as he can deliver.
Aside from his work in film, Charles dove deeper into the world of children’s books as a way to address his deep-seated passion to inspire children and having his stories accompany them as they grow up.
It is likely that children who have read The Snurtch by Sean Ferrel, Peanut Butter & Brains: A Zombie Culinary Tale by Joe McGee and Spy Guy: The Not So Secret Agent by Jessica Young, will come across his illustrations and remember them fondly, as with the imaginativeness that the drawings show.
Charles said that in his childhood, he never saw himself ending up in the life of a professional artist. His talent and passion was apparent from childhood, but he never received, or even strived, for recognition, sticking mainly to his love for drawing and telling stories.
“When I was younger, I always took my inspiration from other stories, but as I got older, my inspiration comes from my surroundings and environment, through knowing different cultures and talking with people from all sorts of backgrounds,” he explained.
Charles added that he did not take a special drawing and illustration course at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where he studied art and design for four years.
Charles, who likes to read comic strips Panji Koming by cartoonist Dwi Koendoro on Sunday edition of Kompas, said when he was little, he learned to draw from the strips or various comic books, including a series of French comics Asterix by René Goscinny and Alber Uderzo.
“I would do everything to get them, such as borrowing from the library or from my friends. At that time, I duplicated them in photocopy shops because imported books were very expensive and I did not have much money to buy them,” he said.
His delve into children’s books also came from his lifelong desire to tell stories that in the end would maybe inspire children as they grew up. He realized the importance of inspiring stories for children when he was conceptualizing characters for children’s films during his time at Animal Logic, feeling that a good story was an essential part of shaping a child’s personality.
“Whenever I see children, it always makes me smile at the fact that they still have that pure hope within them,” Charles said.
“To me, children’s books are most essential for those between the ages of 3 and 8, because it is the age where a child is closest with their parents. The parents tell stories to their children, and this activity can build a child’s communication skill, empathy and knowledge.”
In the field of children’s books, Charles has worked with several authors and publishers in the United States and Australia, primarily providing the illustrations.
Working for children, as he says, presents itself as slightly relieving and challenging at the same time due to the fact that children tend to be more direct in their responses other than adults.
“The directness of the kids’ responses makes me more challenged to make stories for them. They’re a good audience because kids will directly tell you, without sugarcoating, whether or not they like something. This also affects the film industry in some way when they make film versions of children’s books,” Charles says.
Charles, who has held exhibitions in Australia, the US and France, has simple advice for anyone who wants to be a conceptual artist and book illustrator like him.
“Never stop creating something and you can learn from it,” he said. “If a computer is too expensive, just take paper and pencil. They are very cheap. Start from there.”
