Impressed by the interesting works of the "automotive manipulator" Theophilus Chin, autoclub.bg team decided to seek the Malaysian for a few words about his paintings. Chin, in turn, was kind enough to give part of his time to the site and its readers to share some details about his renderings, as well as some facts about the automotive world in Malaysia.

AC: Hey, Theo! It´s nice to hear from you! In the recent months, our team followed the works of yours and I can say – we found some of them very cool. How and when did you start doing them and from where do you get inspiration about these strange modifications? Tell us about the process.
TC: It all began when I joined CarSpyShots.net, and I posted my first pair of renderings on 14 February 2005, the Citroen C7 4X4. In that forum, I got to know more photochoppers, and had the opportunity to improve my chopping and rendering skills. Around 2006, I started to visit Paultan.org daily. Always wanted to have my rendering featured with an automotive site, I emailed Paul (owner of the site) about some of my idea. And I contributed my first editorial rendering for Paul Tan’s article on the Proton Savvy sedan on 24 July 2006. Through Paultan,org, I started to build a name for myself. Then, my first big break came in 7 April 2008 when Autoblog.com featured my rendering for the Mercedes-Benz CLE 4-door coupe article. I was thrilled and motivated, and wanted share my renderings with everyone. With that intention, I registered to Flickr on 24 November 2008. While I use Flickr to host my renderings, I also made plenty of friends in Flickr, among them is Christopher Leong. Christopher is this amazing friend who suggested on my own dedicated blog/site. I knew nothing about blogging, website, HTML and etc. then, but Christopher not only helped me to start this blog/site, he even paid for the domain registration. So with Christopher’s help, TheophilusChin.com officially came online on 27 January 2009. Wanting to make the site interesting, Christopher suggested videos of my renderings. Most of my videos are now hosted in Youtube (joined on 17 March 2009) and Vimeo (joined on 1 April 2009). Much to my surprise, I received an email from Bobby Ang of Wheels Weekly on 12 May 2009. We exhanged contacts and met up in Singapore a couple of weeks later. Bobby proposed the idea of a new journal-like automotive magazine for Malaysia, and invited me be part of the team. And I have since been contributing my renderings for other sites and publications too.

AC: What kind of software do you use? Which is your favorite work by now?
TC: I´m a Mac user. As for softwares, I switch between Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. So far, my favorite work will have to be the Suzuki Kizashi Convertible (http://www.theophiluschin.com/?p=2263).

AC: As for Bulgaria, you caused a sensation with your versions of BMW 6-Series Gran Touring and Jaguar XF Sportbrake, which appeared in all online magazines. Have you ever been in a contact with a big car magazine or even car manufacturer, that is interested in your works? If yes, what happened?
TC: I am really surprised by the attention my renderings get. While I have not contact any media (magazine, newspaper and website) or car manufacturer, they have contacted me. I do occasionally render some requested paid assignments. Recently, I found out Jaguar Cars subscribed to my Twitter account. It´s an honor that I credit to the Jaguar XF Sportbrake renderings.

AC: Do you receive any feedback about your works from people around the Internet?
TC: I do! And I appreciate these feedbacks, be it good or critical. I take criticism a way to improve on my renderings. That said, the Internet being the Internet, some comments can be nasty and insulting. Some are even personal. Well, there will always be one (or more) rotten apple in a big basket. Generally those who visit my site are very supportive fans who give comment positively and constructively. Some of which eventually become my friends, like those in my Facebook.

AC: If this is your hobby, what do you do for your living? Do you think you can find your place in automotive industry and work as a car designer?
TC: I´m a full time Graphic Designer at Metta Welfare Association in Singapore, doing mostly event planning and publications for the mention charity organization. I like the job as I am indirectly helping many of those in need (weak, sick, elderly and also those who are intellectually disabled). But the funny thing is that I didn´t start of wanting to work as a Graphic Designer. I studied Industrial Design and eventually got my BS (Hons) in Design for Industry from University of Newcastle, wanting to focus in car design. Not long after I graduated, 09.11 happened and it was almost impossible to find job as an Industrial Designer (also knows a Product Designer like Phillip Stark). So I tried any other design career possible, and I´ve been a Graphic Designer since. I still have the interest of becoming a car designer.

AC: Something about your future plans? Any ideas about what is going to be your next enhancement or, let´s say – tuning?
TC: My future plan? Well I hope I can be a full-time renderer, and earns enough to also be more charitable. I believe in giving back to society. If your question is about my next rendering assignment, well all I can say is this morning I read the new M6 is revealed. Opportunities and ideas start flowing in!

AC: Tell us something interesting about cars in your country. Malaysia is far away from here and we don´t hear about your mobiles often. Are you going to take the path of China and India about Europeanisation in automobiles?
TC: I believe Malaysia has the capability in churning out good self-design cars. We have the talent. But not the volume. And if both Proton and Perodua improve on their cars´s quality, engineering and design, the foreign market will be more accepting of Malaysia-made cars. And by saying improving them, that is "Europeanisation". Europe is a tough market, the people demands nothing less than mediocre. So build a car that Europe likes, and you have a good car. This apply to the Inidan and Chinese. I dare say in 5 years time the Chinese will have some (if not a lot) of Europe standard cars. Look how far they´ve achieved in the last decade.

AC: And finally – which are your favorite brands and models?
TC: Still BMW. It used to be BMW and Alfa Romeo, but Fiat got lazy and Alfa stalled the premium market chase. My favorite model has got to be Mazda Miata/MX-5. I don´t care it´s a girl´s car. It´s RWD, light weight, fun and reliable. If not for the MX-5, there will be no Z3/Z4, TT, SLK and Boxster. But my favorite type of car is not a car. I seriously love mid-size trucks like the Volkswagen Amarok, fitted with a powerful Diesel engine preferably.

AC: Thanks for spending part of your time for autoclub.bg and its readers. Good luck with your next renderings and maybe see you on some international auto shows!
TC: You are welcome! And thanks to my Bulgarian friends!