This is a narrative of my journey from pencil to pixel.
2004;
The genesis: right when I started exploring the drawing function of a pencil. We did practice art and craft earlier, but I started out with a rather anxious tempo owing to my shy and reserved nature. Art was [and still is] deeply rooted in my family's history, so my uncles would try to bring out the spark to light up some courage in me, either by making their own paintings and fine sketches for me to observe or hand me a pencil and paper to sketch anything. I slowly began by spending hours paper-tracing my favorite cartoon characters, animals, and landscapes with my pencils and paper (It obviously was the easiest way to start on a positive) and to be fair enough, 'decent' was the outcome.
2005-2007;
A year of practice, and I became an image-trace master😅 Tracing sketches for my classmates became the norm, so my inexperience made me believe that that was it! Little did I know that art is evolutionary; a whole new cycle that needed discoveries, yet I had barely started expressing my imagination on paper!
2010-2013;
Consequently, I struggled in high school. I met sheer talent, people who would build from scratch and innovate while I was still stuck in the basics of image tracing. The 'survival for the fittest' mantra was well and true; the best of the lot were well known by their unique works, while I shut down for four years telling myself that I was not good enough and I couldn't evolve in the game like the rest.
2015;
Fast forward to college and I got back to using the pencil for diagrams, just to gradually rejuvenate my desire for art, and I moved back to basics. I gradually moved from image tracing to sketching animations on plain paper. A test of patience was felt throughout, and boy, patience was needed.
2017-2021;
A couple of years later, I saw digital artworks on the internet that caught my eye. They were so realistic and detailed, yet also so creative and original. "How is this possible?" I would ask myself. Thanks to the ever-evolving digital era, tutorials were brought to life, and I took up the task of a new evolution phase. A phone with a stylus pen, decent data connection and a software (Adobe Draw) proved a good starting point, and I would get back to image tracing, but this time, with a digital touch. It was at this point when I realized that change was necessary.
A shift of focus on the scope was made too, from animations to portraits. The practice started off well and the results were motivating.
2022- present;
January 2022: My journey in the digital art scene took a blow when Adobe discontinued Adobe Draw for unknown reasons (moment of silence), leaving me stranded for a while. This, however turned out to be the greatest blessing in disguise, as it made me realize that there is more to art than just drawing. I would distract myself with nature (sunset shots, landscape views using the phone lens) and it turned out to be another interesting venture (new post soon).
The term 'monetization', which was a completely new term in my books at the time, would soon become a norm in the various tutorials I came across, and it coincided well with the surge in the cost of living. This called for quick action (you probably guessed it right): draft a survival plan out of what I love doing most instead of it just being a hobby.
The answer? DESIGN! DESIGN! DESIGN! and up came Ted's Artfolio- a brand name that primarily reminds me of the 'decades-long' art journey and maintains the vast specialties of art and design that I'm currently pursuing as a result of an evolutionary art adventure.
Every work of art you see in this site (if you haven't yet, explore!) marks the current, and not the final, phase in my art journey, Obviously, this wouldn't be made possible without the presence of Our Maker and Provider, which explains why most custom designs are Scripture-based. With such a God-given gift, one cannot fail to utilize and return the glory. Indeed, thus far He has helped us!
This post would also not be in existence without the unmentioned acts of inspiration and motivation through it all from my family and friends. A new phase will surely beckon, and we aren't done yet.
Dive in to the art side of life. This is just a glimpse of what's yet to be unfolded. There is always more to learn through art. Art is my life, and my life is art.
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