“As a child, all I had was a doodle board. You know those magnetic things? Yeah. So I had that, and also I watched a lot of Blue’s Clues, so I would just draw along with Steve, the main character. That’s how I started. Then I started drawing other things, like from the TV shows I watched. Whenever I get the chance, I draw. It’s been a passion of mine ever since. [Drawing is] relaxing. It’s something I can do while listening to other people. I like to draw cartoon characters mostly, it’s very hard for me to draw realistic things. I like to draw things that don’t exist.

[Last year] I wanted to make a manga-based off an idea a friend and I came up with, and I decided ‘let’s make this into a real thing,’ so I did. It’s published on a website called ‘tapastic,’ and it’s called Broken Halycon. It’s a story about two people who are from different origins and they are fighting for a cause, but I don’t want to spoil anything. I put a lot of time and effort into that and it’s something that I’m very proud of.

I want [drawing] to be something that’s part of my life but not exactly an occupation. Maybe a hobby, so that way I can enjoy it more. Something that defines me as a person, rather than ‘oh, this is what you do for a living.’ To those out there, just do what you love. It doesn’t have to be your job, you can just do it as a side thing.”