Why I Create
It’s not something I can accurately put into words. However, in the 2020 film Resistance featuring Jesse Eisenberg, he responds to his unartistic father—when asked why he creates—that it’s like the urge to use the washroom; he simply cannot hold it in. Loosely translated, but it’s the closest explanation I’ve ever related to.
Defacing Property
When I was in high school, I borrowed hand-me-down textbooks from my older cousin. I drew all over them—in ink—on the inside covers and on the blank pages that didn’t have much information. Almost every page had something.
The next year, her younger sister had to painstakingly white-out all my “art”. Sorry, Priya.
I got a call from my aunt (her mother). I’m not sure if she remembers this, but she wasn’t too happy about what I did, and I was sternly told not to do it ever again.
I’ve always said: give me a blank canvas, a pencil, an eraser, and uninterrupted time, and I’ll be the happiest person in the world.
Impulsive Behaviour
There was another time when I was young that I was scolded—and made to feel wasteful—for drawing scribbles and random nonsense that came to mind in my drawing pad.
We couldn’t afford much back then, but my late father quickly defended me. He explained that I should be allowed to express my creativity, even if it was scribbles and nonsense. Despite our financial struggles—which I didn’t fully understand at the time—he never let that stop my creativity, even if others thought it was wasteful.
Somehow, he knew, though he wasn’t an artist himself.
Finding My Creative Outlet
Right out of high school, I knew I wasn’t cut out for academia or furthering my education like so many of my peers. I didn’t see the point in wasting time. Three days after school closed, I started working for my now cousin-in-law. He owned a tattoo studio that also offered airbrush art on T-shirts. I asked for the opportunity, and he gladly gave me a shot, knowing I was a creative like him.
My role was to come up with original illustrations customers could choose from to have airbrushed onto their T-shirts—and eventually to do the airbrushing myself.
Those were some fun days I’ll never forget, though short-lived.
Chasing Dreams
Growing up, I had so many dreams about working on creative productions, whether it was comics, animation, or even films. So every opportunity to advance myself creatively, I took—almost unconsciously.
From the tattoo studio, I went on to work at a photo studio in the capital, producing large digital prints. From there, I found employment at an art-studio-turned-sign-company, all within about a year and a half.
I worked at the sign company for several years, playing a pivotal role—actually, the only employee involved—in transitioning their production from analogue sign art to digital prints, which eventually became the company’s sole focus.
I was creating less, mostly printing around the clock.