These days however, you are more likely to find the young hankering to become famous social media stars.

Fame comes at a cost though, and some local YouTubers prefer to stay unnoticed as much as possible.

At first glance, Bram Lee is an unassuming fellow, and while he is indeed that, the 35-year-old also happens to be the showrunner behind a popular YouTube animation channel.

At the time of writing, CartoonHooligans has over four million subscribers on YouTube, with its most-watched video garnering nearly 100 million views.

Most of the channel’s videos are of a comedic nature, featuring pop culture icons such as Batman and Spider-Man engaging in all sorts of silly shenanigans.

In addition to YouTube videos, Lee has also animated advertisements, some of which you may have seen recently.

Ever watched the animated advertisement for Nestle’s Mochi Boba ice-cream? With two men screaming “mochi” and “boba” at the top of their lungs? Yup, that’s Lee’s work right there.

Quite novel achievements, especially from someone who grew up reading local comics in the quiet town of Sungai Petani.

FMT Lifestyle recently chatted with Lee to learn a little about his past and where he is looking to take his creative talents next.

“Back then, in Kedah, there were not many sources of entertainment,” he recalled. “I did really love comic books, though, and I wanted to be a comic book artist even then.”

Thankfully for him, his family was supportive of his artistic endeavours, provided he maintained his good grades at school.

When he wasn’t studying, Lee was off reading comics. More specifically, he was reading “Gempak”, the Bahasa Malaysia info-comic magazine launched in 1998.

In 2003, the magazine launched a competition inviting fledgling comic artists to submit their work.

Of course, the then 15-year-old Lee leapt at the opportunity and good news came a-knocking not long after.

“I received a letter informing me I was a finalist! I was the champion of the under-18 category for that year.”

So off he went to live with relatives in Selangor so he could attend the award ceremony at Sungei Wang Plaza in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

Afterwards, Lee braved himself to approach “Gempak” for a freelance position. “They were reluctant,” he remembered. “’Wow, we’ve never had school kids as freelancers before!’”

Despite their reservations, “Gempak” gave him a chance. For the next two years, nearly every fortnight, Lee took a train into the city to present his drafts to the director.

“Most of the time, he would just reject my work. Basically, the way they work is, if they like the comic, they will buy it per page. If it’s not up to standard, they won’t buy it.”

It was only at the tail end of these two years that the director finally bought a comic from Lee to include in the magazine.

Despite the earlier rejections, Lee said he remained unfazed, determined to pursue his dreams. After leaving school, he participated in a comic competition and won a scholarship to complete his tertiary education.

Lee then worked with animation studios, as well as started up a mobile game company. He was only 22. “I really didn’t know what I was doing at that time. I just wanted to try everything.”

In December 2013, he started his YouTube channel. His first video was posted the following month, marking the beginnings of Cartoon Hooligans.

“I was just playing around then. I had some ideas. If I didn’t get them out of my head, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night,” he said. “I sound crazy, don’t I?”

His videos were slow at getting traction at first, but with a friend’s guidance and encouragement, Lee learnt how to write comedy into his videos.

That was the secret to success, and by 2016, the channel hit its first million subscribers, a milestone recognised by YouTube in the form of a Gold Creator Award.

Lee said that 2020 was the peak of Cartoon Hooligans’ popularity, which he attributed to people being stuck indoors during the pandemic.

The golden days have passed, however, and Lee often struggles with videos being demonetised and stolen by content thieves. He still publishes new videos from time to time, regardless.

He does have advice for young Malaysians aspiring to be online content makers: “Don’t chase numbers. If you do it for fame, it eats into your creativity. Be original. Don’t fake it.”

Check out Lee’s outrageous works on Cartoon Hooligans’ YouTube channel and website.