The achievement exhibitions of the 2019 Comic Industry Talent Cultivation Plan, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and organized by the Department of Multimedia and Entertainment Science, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology and ViewSonic Technology, was held for talent students of comic drawing from North, Central and South Taiwan. The first exhibition was held in Taiwan Comic Base, Taipei, on October 26. The second one was held in Life Design Museum in the Cultural Park of the Ministry of Culture, Taichung City on November 1. The last one was held in Tainan Cultural and Creative Industry Park, Tainan, on November 8. The exhibitions showed a collection of more than 110 comic works by 213 talent students of comic drawing.

【Ching-An Wang (left), Chief Secretary the South Taiwan University of Science and Technology, took a group photo with the team winning the Best Comic Award.】

The Ministry of Culture launched the Comic Industry Talent Cultivation Project in October 2013. It was organized by the Department of Multimedia and Entertainment Science, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology in 2015, 2016, and 2019 this year. Hundreds of applicants were selected to develop talents in comic production or potential students. The exhibition was held separately in North, Central, and South Taiwan. The comic talent training courses were held across schools. The course content included comic writing and text creation, copyright courses, comic character creation, human skeleton and movement, and basic perspective and backgrounding, comic layouts, online popularity, image creation, and media glamour. There was also the WoodPad Drawing Board, sponsored by ViewSonic, to create digital electrographic courses. As for practical courses, the project strengthened the skills of creators to help them enter the comic industry. The project also invited various publishers, professional cartoonists, editors, copyright law experts, and screenwriters, including the 10th Golden Man Award winners—Ming-Shuan Yeh and HOM. Also invited were several previous Golden Comic Award winners and well-known cartoonists and online popular illustrators. Among them, Guang-Min Zuan’s comic book was adapted into a TV series through cross-domain cooperation. After the broadcast, the comic boom in Taiwan continued to heat up. The salon class lecturer Gene, who was nominated for the Best Newcomer in the Golden Comic Award, was the best example for students.

【Ming-Tsai Lai (left), Academic Vice President of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, took a group photo with students who won the Best Comic Award.】

The school authorities said that the Department of Multimedia and Entertainment Science, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, has hosted the Comic Industry Talent Cultivation Project for the third time. So far, it has cultivated more than 400 comic talents and 224 works, along with 8 students who have won grants from the Ministry of Culture for the comic content development. This year, the online creation free platform "Comic Adventure" has been established to promote the interactive exchange of domestic original comic talents.

【Ming-Tsai Lai, Academic Vice President of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, was delivering a speech.】

During the exhibition, people were welcome to visit and encourage the newcomers who created these comics. They were expected to shine like stars in the sky, leading Taiwanese original comics into a starry sky that belongs to “Comic Taiwan."

【Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology held the 2019 Comic Industry Talent Cultivation of the Ministry of Culture—"Comic Adventure and Stars Re-emergence." Zhi-Jun Chen, Director of Changhong Publishing Co. (left in the back row); He-Tian Yeh, Dean of the College of Digital Design, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology (second from the left in the back row); Ya-Jing Chou, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Culture, Tainan City Government (third from the back row), and Ming-Tsai Lai, Academic Vice President of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (third from the right in the back row); Zhi-Cheng Sun, Chairman of the Department of Multimedia and Entertainment Science (second from the right), and Bi-Juan Hsu, cartoonist of Changhong Publishing Co. (the right one in the back row)】

【Ya-Jing Chou, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Culture, Tainan City Government (left), took a group photo with the winner of Best Comic Award.】

【Ya-Jing Chou, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Culture, Tainan City Government, was delivering a speech.】