Ben Htoo

Living in Southeast Asia for over 33 years as a Burmese, Benjamin "Ben" Htoo is a multimedia artist who can specialize in directing, production management, character animation, story, editing, graphic design and art direction. All through this path, he graduated with both an Advanced Diploma in Multimedia Design and a Bachelor's Degree in Animation from Raffles Design Institute (Singapore), then attended an M.F.A. Screenwriting program at Academy of Art University. To top it up, his most notable works are his animated short, Taste on Autism, his unproduced screenplays, the Unjustified Jade and So Unromantic, and a T-shirt logo for political figure Aung San Suu Kyi in association with Asia Baptist Women Union. Up until at the age of 13, Ben once dreamt of becoming a teacher in animation. But after becoming enthralled with the stylized art of Maurice Noble and - 5 years later - the storytelling philosophies of Walt Disney and John Lasseter, he set his heart and mind on bring his dream projects to realization at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Even his love for My Life as a Teenage Robot has been compelling him to work on his own TV show at Nickelodeon Animation Studios. Besides Raffles Design Institute (Singapore) and Academy of Art University, Ben underwent internship as a graphic designer at Can Studio in Singapore. During his pursuit in California, he made connections with former players from the Hollywood industry: Charles Zembillas, Sherrie Sinclair, Diana Coco-Russels, Tom Bertino, Jana Memel, Randy Levinson and Kenneth Estin. He subsequently encountered the President of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, Dr. Ed Catmull, right before getting into his head about duality between hand-drawn and CGI on story and subject matters during the Creativity Summit presentation at San Francisco's Dolby Theater. From 2012 to 2015, he struggled to lead his small production team at his own Myanmar-based animation company, H2 Animation. From 2019, he provided freelance works for Asia Baptist Women Union, then for some buyers on Fiverr. As implied from his works in animation and screenwriting, Ben is keen on experimenting with story, art and characterization. While being devoted to keeping hand-drawn animation alive in the changing trend of animated features, he spares his times on honing his skills in CG character animation.