17 years later....
Living in the region known as the ring of fire, natural disasters are our best friend. We grow up either experiencing it or watching it from afar. Either way, it's not something that is excluded in our daily conversation. And though we have natural disasters, we are equally blessed with amazing landscapes which makes a 9 year old me use that as an inspiration during my artistic journey back in the day.
The thumbnail above is my 2nd work as the original one was displayed at my school for years and belonged to them. So it was already the second edition that I drew which I don't even remember why I did a second one.
The theme of that drawing was natural disaster and I chose Volcano because it's what intrigued me the most compared to flood or forest fire. And as a 9 years old, that was the scene I pictured when the eruption was happening, people running around, livestocks, family.. I mean these drawing is quite illogical because if the distance between the volcano and the village are a lot closer, considering the materials that the mountain spews, there would be no people. But anyhow.... it was how I pictured at that age, that people would still have the time to run and save themselves.
It was colored with Pentel and finished with Pylox clear spray, a technique that I learned during my art class. Now, almost 17 years later, that drawing is still intriguing as it was. Some other of my works are also done the same way and some displayed in the following are mostly my "practice" drawing.
These drawings reminded me of my artistic and creative journey. I found them while cleaning some of my old books and they were a few pieces that were unfinished. Anyhow, I'd tell a little story of it though I didn't draw anymore nor do any of it as my profession but once, Art was a big part of who I am.
My Drawing Journey...
My drawing journey started quite early. When I got into elementary school at age 6, my art teacher noticed my talent and I began drawing and coloring competitively.At that point, I joined so many competitions and I took an extra drawing class every afternoon for the next 6 years of my life. My specialty was landscape and cultural activities from my region that I turned into drawing. I still have the sketch but I forgot to take a picture of it.
I was also mostly in a class with a lot of older students who were really good and I have to say, artistically gifted. While I was among them, I wanted to have the same perfection as these older students and the similar style as them. They were well-supported with much better art tools while for me, art wasn't the only thing I did. So, my parents could only support me with the best they could as they also divided their finances into my other activities like Karate, Swimming and my academic life where I was also doing those competitively.
Now, I realized that when I was among these students, I was never proud of what I drew ; I am prone to constantly comparing my drawings or anything to my friends, who were often significantly older. This is the mindset that I had which hindered my progress and never really went through anything that I have the potential to be good at. I could be an artist, if I were patient enough and stopped comparing myself to people or friends and only focused on my work. But again, I got distracted and once I graduated from my elementary school,though I was still doing art but it wasn't the loudest part of my life anymore. At the time, I was already into tech, programming and writing stories which started another journey of my life that apparently is still a big part of me at the present moment.
About two or three years ago, I stumbled upon my art teacher who asked me if I am still drawing. I obviously didn't do it professionally but I told him that it was just something I did as a hobby that I do once in a blue moon. That moment, I began to realize that I had such a vibrant life that I forgot. And that perhaps, those early days shaped my creative journey and parts of me today. Whether it is through photography, digital drawings, or writing, I am thankful that those early exposure helped fuel the creative part of my life and it will always be the memory that I cherished as a part of my identity.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Wow! I am impressed! You were ( are ) extremely talented!
And I can know this because I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil/ crayon myself.
I love the colors - your background looks amazing! - and the depiction of ( a dramatic ) story in a ( still ) drawing.
@clareartista you are gonna love this!
P.S. Macchiata, not sure if you listen to podcasts too, but if so, I thikn you would enjoy the conversation I had with clare today, that I turned into a podcast episode.
We talk about creativity and the book writing process ( and onward ). You can find it on my blog ;<)
I probably should have nurtured those a lot more but life happens haha. I worked hard for it though, as I was also taking extra classes, competitions every weekend, it was not easy. But I am glad that those early experiences also shaped my artistic journey. I'll check your podcast when I can, must be awesome :)
Life sure happens. Tell me about it.
I even had years where the system pretty much wrung all creativity ( and vitality ) out of me.
Glad I managed to turn that around. I am on fire now, creatively and I feel it's only the beginning! 🔥
P.S. I love to see people rekindle their creativity :<)
🦖hug!
What an amazing picture. I'm not surprised your school displayed them for a long time. I've got an almost 9-year-old. He doesn't draw like that, but he's practicing!
Good luck to him! the key is definitely practicing and I am sure he'll do very well. All you need is definitely support him and get him any tools he needed 😊
Your drawing reminds me of what is happening in the Philippines right now because of the Mayon Volcano's eruption.
Ah yeah, I read it on the news. Sad to see it happening it over there.
At the moment, it's not really that bad. not yet a big disaster.
That sounds like a wonderful childhood for sure! You definitely have some good artistic talent in that realm! I remember I did one good drawing in my life, and it made a mark on me for whatever reason. It was a pencil drawing of a train station and train tracks with a moon in the background. It came out pretty well but I have no idea what happened to it. It likely got thrown away at my parents house many years ago lol.
It’s good to reflect on our childhood like that and realize that we had a wonderful time, even though it may not seem like it at the time. I’m glad you have these memories!
That kid looking back at the volcano confused would definitely be me LOL
have you seen an eruption from up close? it's pretty fascinating tbh but also scary at the same time. I had somewhat a happy and even fun childhood. It's something I really miss from my life. I went dirt-biking, fishing and a lot of outdoor activities more than indoor ones. As an adult, I want that life again, being outdoor instead spending 90% of my time indoor :) for some reason, I am not built to be a NEET but I found myself being reclusive as I get older hehe.