The not-so-artistic journey: How I discovered my passion for art

As a child I never thought of being an artist, yes I liked to draw random things back then. However, what I really want when I grow up is to be a fashion designer. Technically it’s still art, however, it’s different from the art that I’m in now.

Back then, I loved sewing and creating a dress for my dolls. I draw dresses that look so awful even my mom laughs at them. I always draw and create yet how come I never saw myself as an artist? Well, I just haven’t found the trigger yet.

Anime as starters

I first started to get into Anime when I was in grade 6, my friend introduced me to Fairy Tail. Back then I really wanted to try and draw Juvia, a character from the series, it was a lot of trial and error. I still remember I couldn’t draw her eyes straight so I just traced her. I put the paper above the CD where the character is printed and traced, I’m proud of that because it’s a start.

As high school started, I met friends who had similar hobbies. One of them encourages me to draw as we have a dream and that is to make a comic. And I told her that I can’t draw, I can only trace, however, she believes that I can draw so I started to try. We only became classmates for 1 year because she moved out of Bulacan yet she left with inspiration and a dream.

Ever since then, I started copying instead of tracing. It’s such a slow pace and I don’t know how to draw correctly because no one taught me. I try to imitate the style of other artists, trying out pencil shading and eventually learning how to color through color pencil. Every single day I will finish one drawing, it was so cool and I don’t know how I did that.

Art Slump and Reconnection

The art slump happened during senior high school, life is so busy, that I have little to no time to draw. I can only sketch, leaving my colored pencil to dust. Honestly speaking, at the time I didn’t know what to do in my life. I want to pursue a course related to art yet we can’t afford it. I think I’m having a life crisis back then, to the point that I can’t make decent art and even got a drawing tablet as a graduation gift yet I can’t use it. It continued until college, not creating anything just going with the flow of life, and then the pandemic happened.

It’s a slow pace however, I had more time to explore new things. I studied how to draw digitally using my tablet. This time, I make my art, not tracing, not copying, I use references like any other artist. I learned so much and improved a lot, although I’m far from being a professional artist I’m proud of where I am now. Reconnecting with my passion is one of the best decisions I made in my life.