OVER a decade ago, he was working at a bank. An obvious profession with his qualifications in accounting. But working with numbers was far from what he wanted to do. So, when Ahmad Ufiz Ahmad Shabri saw an opportunity to make his dreams come true, he took it.
He applied for a position at an animation studio.
He has zero qualifications in the profession and no foundation in the industry. But what Ufiz has is a talent that he has had since he was young, an ability he cultivated from a hobby and inspired by the cartoons that he watched and the comics that he read.
Ufiz has a knack for drawing cartoons, and using the bank-in slips he had then, he DREW his job application.
He had nothing to lose.
Perhaps it was his raw talent, perhaps it was his positive attitude, or perhaps it was his love for cartoons. But somehow, he got the job.
“I didn’t make a lot of money when I was working at the bank. I didn’t even have a laptop. So when I got the job, I borrowed a laptop from a friend and took a tablet home from work. It was what I had to do to learn the job and catch up with everyone else,” said Ufiz.
He admits that without a formal education in art, it was an uphill climb and that most of what he learned was on-the-job. Almost immediately, from drawing static cartoons on paper, he was doing animation on a computer. Ufiz was hooked.
He switched jobs a few times in those years, from animator to cartoonist, to designer. At each step, Ufiz had to learn something new while at the same time refining his art style and developing his artistic persona.
“I even had the chance to work with the late great artist and cartoonist Tembakau (Azhar Ahmad), who is one of my idols, and Aie Sulong (Saari Sulong), the person who advised me to get into colouring.”
Today, Ufiz is best known by a different name, Kupeh Rodriguez. He explained that the name is a combination of his nickname and a common Spanish name.
“The name is not all that strange. In Kedah, where I am from, the nickname for Ufiz is Kupeh. Since Ahmad is a common Muslim name, I picked a common name in Spanish, Rodriquez.”
The cartoons that he draws are as distinctive as his pen name. His avatar is often a turquoise coloured skeleton drawn with a signature joyous smile that can only be described as infectious.
“A skeleton is universal. It has no race, no colour, not beautiful or ugly. I also draw my characters smiling because I want to convey joy. Artwork can influence people and I want my work to make people happy”.
That is just an example of what Ufiz does on the side. In addition to running Korod Klothing, a street clothing brand that he started in 2016. His current day job has him dealing with clients.
He still draws in his free time. However, as a husband and father, and with a second child on the way, those moments of reprieve are few and far between.
Still, he never lost his drive to learn. Every year, as a way to improve his skills and develop positive drawing habits, he participates in InkTober, a challenge created by illustrator Jake Parker in 2009.
“Doing it every year is important to me. The challenge of having to think of a subject, draw it and finish it in one single day, every day for 30 days, helps me improve.
“Last year, I went digital because that’s the skill I want to develop,” said Ufiz.
He also spoke about trying his hand at making a figure two years ago. It was one of many creations that made its debut at the Inch Lab booth at TAGCC (Toys, Anime, Games & Comics Con) in 2019.
It was an anthropomorphised box of matches gleefully holding a lit match. It was that delight in the figure’s face that caught everyone’s attention. Those who saw it had a smile on their face. Everyone who learned its name, laughed.
“It’s called Kaki Bakar.”
