I started doodling at the age of 5 in 1997. It was a very weird looking stick figure that made my dad feel that I am the next Picasso. (Dads being Dads).
Art & I were always thick even during the thinnest of my times. I used to always have a dear diary where I doodled & wrote my heart out.
I always used to observe people, their dynamics & the moments that they spent with each other. And felt like capturing most of them through my doodles.
The happy, sad, embarrassing and the funny!
Our friendship was at rock-bottom when I sidelined art as a mere hobby. And then I started to focus on academics because art was never considered a serious business!
But art did not give up entirely on me. It still found its way in my life. I saw some doodles popping up every now & then on mostly my low days at the back of my notebooks!
And with time, the guilt of ignoring my first friend increased. But I chose to do nothing about it. I studied engineering & tried befriending it, but could never be myself in front of it. I had to have filters. I was honest & dedicated in my friendship. But not vulnerable. Not completely myself. I completed my degree. but decided to put an abrupt end to our equation. Because honestly, I could foresee a decaying friendship. Which would have turned toxic.
I tried making more friends along the way. Being an introvert, I could never build friendships that were casual. I was either in it or not. Small-talks & filters did not make sense to me.
I found solace in another friend. Writing. It tried its best to fill the void that art had created. Unfortunately it could not replace art. But it did create a special place in my heart. And I am grateful for the support & love that it provided. It also gave me a channel to vent, rant & breathe.
It was my sounding board for the longest.
After my graduation in 2014, I felt that I have a wobbly career path & felt unbalanced & unsettled. But gradually moved towards content writing to feel lighter. I primarily did this to hide from what my inner voice was trying to tell me.
I kept walking on that path & became a digital marketer. I felt that marketing was like a union of text & art that gave me some sort of creative liberty in a professional environment.
I never initiated my friendship with art. But art was a true friend who knew me inside-out. So this time, it did come in my life because it knew that I was in dire need of a genuine friend.
Art came in disguise of graphic design in one of the start-ups that I worked for.
One of my ex-bosses(Sudesh) taught me the basics of photoshop & illustrator, because the agency that we worked with apparently had to be let go off.
And just like that I felt that old connection & the vibe again :) (I will eternally be grateful to Sudesh for this)
My brother, who always supported my friendship with art gleamed when he saw the connection come alive!
He along with my folks gifted me an i-pad & an apple pencil in 2018. And that's when my friendship with art saw a new phase of life.
Although we became friends, it was I this time that had to win over art's trust. Our bond though thick had also become a little rusty. It had to be rejuvenated. And I worked on making sure that I don't lose out on my friend this time.
And thus, worked harder at bettering art & year on year. Gradually I did see the graph of improvement go up. I saw that art started trusting me more!
And finally in 2019, I started to focus more on art & started taking up Digital Marketing Gigs instead of full-fledged roles.
I wanted art to be a passion turned into a profession. This carried on for two more years up till June 2021, where I decided to make art the centre of my life.
And that's when AlienChikki came into being :)
AlienChikki is my way of telling people that moments & memories should never fade away. They deserve to be immortalized. And I did this all throughout my childhood & also a part of my adulthood for people in my family. It was my husband, who in 2017 suggested that I extend this outside of my familial circle.
I brushed his valuable suggestion aside then, only to embrace it later full-fledgedly!
And the best moments & memories are not captured through the camera, the best ones are lived!
The best gift is the gift of personalization! I help people recreate moments & memories with their loved ones through custom illustrations :)
In my next post, I will emphasise the importance of personalized gifts!
Till then, stay happy & create memories!