Ah, the tangled origin story of my artistic escapades! Imagine a young lad gripped by an insatiable urge to sketch on any available surface—paper, desks, floors, blackboards, and yes, even the notorious walls! My pièce de résistance? A daring depiction of a pirate ship battle adorning a pristine classroom desk, sparking a clash with the principal and summoning my parents. Whether they footed the bill for a replacement desk remains shrouded in mystery. However, my father, a shrewd businessman entrenched in import/export ventures, recognizing my mischievous yet humorous nature, introduced me to American cartoons through Mad magazine and, ahem, occasionally Playboy. Fear not, I adhered strictly to the cartoons! He even encouraged me to submit my sketches to newspapers, laying the groundwork for my creative journey.
Now, envision this budding artist navigating the treacherous waters of academia on the path to architectural engineering, a career favored by most parents at the time. Despite not attending art school—deemed a diversion from serious academic pursuits—I clandestinely honed my cartooning skills, studying luminaries like Brother Cow 牛哥 and dissecting every cartoon from glossy publications. But fret not, my love for Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck endured, alongside a healthy dose of comedy shows and films.
My breakthrough? A seminal moment at the tender age of 9—my drawing of an F-86 Sabre fighter jet graced the children's section of a Taiwanese newspaper, 中央日報兒童園地. Alas, the original has vanished into the mists of time, but I've recreated it for posterity's sake.
From then on, my doodles became cherished features of newspapers, reigning supreme in numerous children's and youth sections until I tossed my graduation cap in '63. Even in college, my cartoons continued to embellish the pages of Taipei's newspapers until my grand sojourn to the U.S. in '71. Yet, distance couldn't quell my doodling fervor—I diligently shipped cartoons back to Taipei for publication. Fast forward to '73-'74, and voila! My inaugural cartoon debuted in America, gracing the pages of the college newspaper, IIT Engineering News. And thus, the enduring saga began—cartoons have stood as steadfast allies on my creative odyssey ever since!