Just briefly plotting the challenge: are there any fluffy-cutie animals to rival panda? We think of a sea otter, quokka, alpaca or capybara—those with the doe-blinking eyes and fluffy fur that everyone could easily fall for. But one guy takes it differently; a tapir rules it all, the black and white mammal with chubby, tiny eyes and ears, flexible prehensile nose trunk. What seriously happened was he tried to style the underrated tapir into a particular character, wooing everybody in the country. That guy is called Cherng.

    "The origin of Laimo was brought up on me when panda's fluffy effect was taking over Taipei zoo. And I thought that a tapir adopts the same black and white concept, but how come they are marginalized. So, I drew him, only as to arm-wrestle with the pandas.

    The new talent is called Ma Laimo or Laimo meaning a tapir, direct and sincere. He was born in 2012 when Cherng delivered him to the world through a Facebook page where he published his typical originals. Obviously, Laimo was a prettyproof of popularity with his nasty-lazy character—dissing others in front of them as well as oozing out negativity.  This mundane-dictated character draws people into him because he's different from other cartoonish characters filled with cuteness and positivity.

    When Cherng has arrived to Bangkok to work for Love of Siam with LAIMO, the month of love in 2020, we had a chance to talk with him and his life as an illustrator—with a tapir walking by his side along these recent years.

    "I started drawing since I was a kid, right when I could hold a pencil. I could draw anything I adored or drawing a picture for friends just to make them happy. I normally accentuate especial story telling to normal happenings." Cherng rolled back to his basic skill which literally moved him to study Digital Media Design major at Ming Chuan University.

    "After graduation, I had no jobs but drawing spontaneously at home. My parent, of course, were skeptic—seriously? You're going to live a life like this, working as an illustrator? But when I got some feedback from the social media, it turned out quite nicely. I thought I was lucky that many people cherished my pieces. So living here as an illustrator, I'm delighted that my personal binge and hobby could be my real job."

    Besides creating Laimo to rival pandas in Taipei zoo, he sets him as his working company that reflects ongoing surroundings by the time he's furthering his job. Cherng's first work focused on random petty friction in life, something he wanted to express daily. Winter in Taiwan is killing flesh, it wakes no soul to do anything, freezing people in bed. When he was studying or proposing his art in a competition and felt worn out, he would draw to iron out boredom and retard.

    "Personally, I like drawing trees or rare animals less acknowledged by people. When Laimo stirred the trend, it struck me in both bewildering and mesmerizing way because tapir could finally be mass. Taiwanese people rarely knew them prior, but it got so trendy when I drew the character."

    The unique flavor shaped Laimo as the character that several brands would like to work with. Besides Cherng's typical solo-design products, he carried Laimo on his shoulder and played with him on variety of merch in Taiwan: flask, umbrella, snack, beverage, bedding set, cosmetic, helmet or even contact lens. Before that, he traveled on a sleeper train to Cebu island, Japan, to encourage tourism and drew some flamboyant maze around Siam Discovery's corridor here in Thailand.

    "I'd like to extend an international market because I feel that Taiwanese people already know Laimo. And I've done what should or could be achieved in Taiwan. The reason that it has to be Japanese market because plenty of characters are blooming in the business, pretty much active. I'm here in Thailand because I feel like Thai folks are open-minded, so Laimo could win their minds over somehow. I chose pink and painted it on Laimo like never before to calibrate the loving vibe of Valentine's Day and Thai's favor. Well, I take this opportunity to groom Laimo into his more-lively manner as well as extending the market scheme, redressing him from the typical black and white formula."

    Although Laimo has collaborated with so many brands, Cherng's dream is to work with airlines just like how EVE Air works with Sanrio to transform the whole airplane into Hello Kitty theme. He was also collaborated with Gudetama, allowing the two lazy-concentrated characters to just lay down there and do nothing. Working with Chibi and Maruko chan is another dream to pursue too.

    "I'm really appreciating my job as of now. I'm thrilled and touched whenever I post some illustrations and my followers send back their feedback. Or when people complain that they couldn't fetch the product because they were sold out too fast in a few minutes. My pride and delight weigh the same as my first moment of early drawing. Hearty shots have filled my soul; I'm happy that everyone takes it dearly just like when I showed my art to my friends and they said it was nice and funny. The only difference is these people are literally my fans."

    Retard and restlessness took over sometimes along the years, but he would just hop on a journey to seek for inspiration from all over the world, applying them to his design and content.

    We're dwelling in the divergent sphere where the artists themselves can capable of creating and delivering their art in one go via a single platform called social media. And that's where the competition goes on fire in Taiwan—tons of contestant-illustrator jump on an online arena, but some new gens choose the Youtuber battle more. Cherng personally thinks that he still owns his venerable playground as a Taiwanese illustrator with some sorts of unique glory. 

    "The most important thing is we have to sustain our own self. Don't try to be like others as cherishing our individual self would attract certain followers."

    His recommendation to the newbies goes, "Construct a solid ground of your soul because being an illustrator who publishes most of your work online these days would get unreasonable amounts of critique. They would throw your life a harsh beauty-zero evaluation. "Brace yourself" will be my recommendation. Don't take bold comments too seriously. If you're literally kindled to work as an illustrator, you have to love drawing as it takes 100% passion. And one day, that full percent of passion will be ousted. Keep this quality in mind to push you forward. And the other recommendation born directly from my own experience is do not financially bet it all on your product because that's too risky."