MAGES Mentors Share Career-Building Secrets at AFA Creators Super Fest

A Heartfelt Thank You to the Community

What a weekend! A big thank you to everyone who came to AFA Creators Super Fest 2025. The energy in the room-hundreds of creators buzzing, all together believing-that art is more than just creation; it can be a sustainable career.

Our own Kingston Chan (Head of Art Department, MAGES Institute) and Damien Soh (Industry Mentor, MAGES) held the session “Art May Come Naturally, but Building a Career Takes Strategy,” and broke down what anyone wishing to enter the industry would need to know to thrive nowadays among creators.

From Passion to Profession: Top Insights

• Art is Talent, Career is Structure

Passion ignites your fire, but a career requires planning, persistence, and a detailed plan.

The Portfolio is the Passport

Employers want focus, and you should produce selective work that shows consistency, technical skill, and adaptability, and quality over quantity in all situations.

• Skills in Demand

Digital sculpting, next-gen 3D pipelines, foundational fundamentals, storytelling through comic or concept design. Versatility will be your currency.

• Finding Your Path

Illustrator, comic artist, and concept artist; each role requires its own set of skills. With workflows and expectations, you will find a clear route.

Why Strategy is Important

There’s still a notion of the “starving artist” in the creative community, and Kingston and Damien made it quite clear why talent alone will no longer suffice. The most prolific creators combine creativity with strategy-simply stated.

Now that means:

• Learn how to market your work.
• Develop professional networks.

Keep your ability to pivot when the time calls-whether it is AI tools, global pipelines, or new forms of media.

A Community of Creators

What is great about AFA Creators Super Fest is not solely the panels or the workshops—we built community-this year, for me and so many new creators reaffirmed why this is such an incredible platform, and it encourages aspiration, inspires collaboration, and lets young creators know they are not on this journey alone.

To all artists who joined us at our festival this year: your energy is your power. Always be creating, sharing, and performing—but strategy is the roadmap that gets you from passion to profession.

About AFA Creators Super Fest

Emerging in 2017, as a sub-event of Anime Festival Asia (AFA), Creators Super Fest has gained traction as one of the fastest-growing creative festival events in the region.

Based on the principles of [CREATE], [SHARE], [PLAY], a festival was created that represents art, cosplay, gaming, music, fashion, and a plethora of industries that creatively connect experienced professionals and aspiring creators to build the next generation of sustainable creative culture.