Intro to myself: Artist lost & found
Hey Everyone,
So here I am, finally, on Medium. I’m typing these off the top of my head: No pre-planned scripts or copywriters behind me. It’s all spontaneous wordcraft; just the way I like it.
I would like to see if this blogging idea I had works out and if it does take off, best begin by introducing myself:
My name is Irfan Yang. I’m a twenty-eight year-old visual artist and creator based in Singapore. Like many artists, Drawing has been and will always be a big part of my life. I like to think I’m decent at it (for being where I want to be right now) and I’ve had the extreme fortune and luxury of having the support of my friends and family, which has been nothing short of tremendous and humbling.
Part of what propels me, like many artists I’ve met, is the need to make my footprint in the world. I have no delusions of grandeur of being the very best at what I do because there’s so many, many, many others out there who are way better than myself. But I do want to do good enough that I won’t simply be forgotten.
I guess like many others I have a fear of being ordinary, so I let that fear drive me forward everyday I can, for every drawing I make.
It was about three years ago after I graduated from animation school when I realized I lost myself as an artist. I won’t sugarcoat it: I screwed up my diploma. Although I did manage to graduate with a decent GPA - and by “manage” I mean it in the way an antelope barely got out of the river from the crocodiles kicking and thrashing— I didn’t make the best use of my time there.
Like the majority of artists in schools, I took a keen interest in digital painting. I wanted to be among the sexy, highly-skilled legions of concept artists that worked for triple-A games and leading titles.
Also like many artists, I became disheartened and intimidated at the insanely competitive and overly saturated market of the game art world. I did try out for a degree in digital media at Digipen ( Singapore Institute of Technology) and passed the interview. But after remembering how badly I did in animation school — I buckled and backed out of my application. I didn’t want a repeat of the nightmare that was school. I was this naive, you see.
With further education being crossed out of my list, the alternative, of course, was to get a job.
So out I set into the big scary world and I applied for too many artist jobs. However, the only one that replied to me was an architectural firm whose posting said something about Photoshop. “Hey, I know Photoshop!”. Bringing my best matte painting works from school, I went for the interview and got in. But after a few months there, I felt like it wasn’t what I wanted to do. The overtime was consistent and quite frankly, I felt I should’ve been doing something more relevant to my skills. So I left after probation and went out to seek my fortunes elsewhere.
I kept at this cycle of landing jobs that I found I wasn’t comfortable in at all and gave me this feeling of dread reporting every morning. Eventually, I stopped working altogether and used that time to take a perspective check. It seemed to me that I kept making one bad decision after another and I needed to get my sh** together. I needed to figure out first what I wanted to do.
It was on a January when I went to an event — this get-together of creatives to showcase themselves-called Matchbox, where they hold meetups for different groups and types of artists every once in a while. There, I met all sorts of artists and creatives who would later become my good friends and some of them, my coaches and mentors.
I can’t remember when was the exact moment I decided to become a Freelancer but it was only via the support and advice of my friends that I made the choice to embark on this path. Whether this was the right decision remains to be known. But I can tell you; I never felt more clear-minded about a decision I’ve made.
It was also around this time when I had found the medium which would later come to define my artistic style: Copic Markers.
The response I got from the pieces I did above was definitely much better than what I got from posting my digital stuff. I did a few more pieces in marker and again, people seemed to respond really well to these. I figured I was on to something and decided to try out this medium and see where it leads.
And so here I am today with a collection of copic marker artworks, and most importantly, I have the support of a decently-sized community. I’ve been selling my art prints and postcards at local art fairs and booths, where you can always find me. If I’m not holding a booth, I’m probably dropping by showing my support.
Of course it’s been a long and rocky journey so far, and I thank you all for those who have been coming along with me, as well as those of you reading this now, even if you’re a new face. To you, I say Hello!
(This blog will hold accounts of my various artworks and my own artistic journey. I may even take it upon myself to make a couple of tutorials on drawing, depending on the response, but this is to test the waters.)
Have a good week ahead!
