Chapter 3: Crafted from Scratch & Independent Growth

10/5/2026

For years after high school, sharing my art was something I only did in small, quiet ways. I didn't have a fancy college degree or formal studio training. Everything I know—from painting techniques to experimenting with mixed media—is 100% self-taught through videos, late-night trial and error, and trading ideas with online artist friends on DeviantArt back in the day. (I even entered Shonen Jump magazine contests trying to win Copic markers sets—spoiler: I never won, but the thrill was worth it! Also, I’m really showing my age here with Shonen Jump Magazines, if you know you know lol).

I think sharing that is so important because so many aspiring artists think they need expensive art schools to be "real" artists. You don't.

While I learned on my own, the artistic spark was definitely in my blood. My grandma on my dad’s side had an incredible skill for oil and pastel paintings, and my dad has a touch of that same gift—something I only discovered tucked away in the pages of his very old journals. He never pursued it the way I did, but seeing those drawings made me realize that creativity had been quietly passed down to me all along.

By my mid-twenties, adult life and a full-time job took over, and I retreated from creating for a while. But the spark never died. Family and friends kept pushing me to sell my work, and the real turning point came years later during a leave from work.

At a crossroads in my life, I sat down at a café with my cousin, who had built her own bookkeeping business from the ground up. After hours of picking her brain, seeing her creative business journey firsthand inspired me to finally take the leap. (You know who you are, and I'm beyond grateful for the inspiration that sparked this dream. Love you!) That initial spark has truly turned into a fire—soon I was filing my LLC, creating new collections, and building a website from scratch. Now, looking back, that lifelong dream has become my reality.

I’m running my own independent online shop late at night after my day job—no big corporate team, no fancy PR agency. Just me, building this space piece by piece, proving that if you have the drive, passion, and willingness to learn, you can craft something incredible out of nothing... just like a work of art.