Hi, I am Benni;
When I was in my childhood, I grew up with pokemon, dragonball, ultramen and many more. My first toy was a Power Ranger figurine. I love cartoons and toys, it was fun to imagine being in an exciting and colorful world that they live in!
As I grew up, my interest in cartoons and toys never faded. I always lookout for new ones, and I still adore them. Sometimes I would save up some money to buy some figurines, as adulthood finally allows me to have my own income.
I grew up with an artistic father. He is creative, especially in music and sculpture art. He self taught guitar and carving skills. He was lucky to be able to earn some money with it. But it was never a big sum of money, so we need to live frugally.
My mom never encouraged me to be an artist like my father. I understand why. She wants me to have a better life. But math and science never interests me. I am like my father, interested in music and art. Those things make me happy, it makes my life full.
I pursued graphic design at my university. I am not saying that I didn’t learn much from school, but I learn a whole lot more from YouTube. I am very proud to be good of what i learn by myself. After graduation, I followed the path that all graduates take, look for a job and gain experience.
And thus begin the rat race.
Working for a company is nothing like what I wanted to do in my life. It is not creative and exciting. It is repetition and duplication. And the pay is very low. It was not fulfilling. But coming from a poor family, I have to make an income to survive. The passion I had for art slowly faded as it seems unrealistic that I can make a living from it.
One day when I was starting a new job, I met Shienni. She opened my eyes to many art communities. She convinced me that there is money in art, there is a possibility to earn a living doing the things I love. I was skeptical. She was optimistic. Slowly, her optimism grew on me. We did some art projects together, and sold them online and in flea markets. Many people are interested and we made some extra money from it. It definitely gives me the thrills. More importantly, I started to believe her.
Being an optimist, she often dares to dream big dreams, she believes that anything is possible, the only limit is oneself. I have started to dream small dreams, and began to work on more projects and hope that I can break-free from the rat race.
Now with NFT and Metaverse, I see many artists have the opportunity to control and sell their art as NFTs, and many artists had made it, able to make a living from art. It is incredible and inspiring. The future is looking to be brighter. I dare to dream big dreams now.
