Cerealbox Studios

The arguments I have for why I do not consider AI Generative images anything remotely close to art are enough to form a chapter of a book, but at the same time, I have concluded that it's much better to let my drawings and paintings do the talking. In a very short time, machine-generated images has vastly outnumbered human-created art and will continue to because of how quickly such images can be produced. But we have to keep drawing, inking, sketching, painting, sculpting, carving etc. Not because we can ever hope to match the number of generic, sterile AI-images being churned out on a daily basis, but because - however imperfect the work we produce with our hands are - our job is to remind the world what beauty is.

“The King” - Joshua Chiang 2025, digital ink on iPad

One of the recent commissioned work done in the style of my Kroma Cat series for a catlover living in Phnom Penh. When I saw the braided cotton rug in the reference pics of the cats the client sent me, I knew immediately it must be part of the background the work.

I can’t thank Gwee Li Sui enough for his support in not just editing, but also moderating, and now recommending The Five-foot-way Detective as the book to read at the Singapore Writers Festival! If you have still haven’t figured out what to get as a Xmas present, especially for your nieces and nephews, why not head down to Books Kinokuniya Orchard and The Book Bar, or - if you’re feeling particularly trustful of the speed of Singapore’s postal system, order online at Wordimagesg.com.

If you’re living in Cambodia, you can it get at my store - Camcam By Joshua Chiang in Siem Reap. If you order from the online store www.camcamcambodia.com, there’s a chance it won’t arrive tomorrow as we cannot guarantee if the delivery service I usually use would be handling many other last minute deliveries.

Still wondering what to get for the kids this Xmas? How about some swashbuckling action-packed comedy adventure set in a world very similar to feudal Japan if it were populated by anthropomorphic animals written and drawn by yours truly? This tradepaperback edition collects all five books in the miniseries, and yes, it's a standalone story with a definite ending, though it may leave readers craving for a sequel.
You can click on this link to order - https://bit.ly/4ggV18V

Singapore Writer's Festival Book launch of the trade paperback edition of Ronin Rat And Ninja Cat at the National Library last Saturday! Dr Gwee Li Sui was an excellent moderator and asked me some unexpected questions, such as whether the character of Whiskers The Rat was an idealized version of myself and how me being a musician influenced the way I tell the stories I drew.

The book is now available in Singapore at Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City (local comics section), the Book Bar and online at https://www.wordimagesg.com/

Word Image does international orders too.

If you live in Cambodia and would love to have a copy of the book, drop us a message!

Singapore Writer's Festival Book launch of the trade paperback edition of Ronin Rat And Ninja Cat at the National Library last Saturday! Dr Gwee Li Sui was an excellent moderator and asked me some unexpected questions, such as whether the character of Whiskers The Rat was an idealized version of myself and how me being a musician influenced the way I tell the stories I drew.

The book is now available in Singapore at Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City, the Book Bar and online at https://www.wordimagesg.com/

Word Image does international orders too.

If you live in Cambodia and would love to have a copy of the book, drop me a message!

So I got a ringing endorsement from non-other than THE Gwee Li Sui who created Singapore's first graphic novel Myth Of The Stone back in 1993. He's also the co-editor of The Five Foot Way Detective, and while he was quite involved with giving me feedbacks for every draft of the work up till the inking stage, only recently did he get a copy of the completed full-coloured print version of the book. Which means, between helping me improve the narrative of the story and reining in some of my worst habits in service of the story and this endorsement, I owe him twice now!

One of the reasons why I always make sure I give my absolute best - and why I charge the fees I charge - is because you never quite know when you will be further rewarded for the effort. Case it point - I just entered into an agreement with Broadway Licensing Global LL to allow them - in exchange for royalty - the rights to license one of the artwork I did to theatre companies worldwide to use as promotional material if they are staging the play 'A Peter Rabbit Tale'.

The artwork was commissioned by the (then) Singapore Repertory Theatre years ago. It took me about a week to complete from the approved sketches as the fur and feathers of the characters require painstaking attention to detail.

I apologize for sharing a photo of the images as they appear on my monitor instead of uploading the files directly onto this social media platform as I want to make it just a bit more difficult for Generative AI companies to scrape my work for their exploitation. You can find a better quality image if you visit the 'commissioned art' page of my website - www.cerealboxstudios.com

So my new book The Five-Foot-Way Detective made it to Singapore's Straits Times's list of top 10 bestselling books of the week, ranking third in the fiction category. Many thanks to all of you who helped make this happen!