so every time I log on to my social
media accounts a lot of my readers would
send me this question it’s how to be you
or to be specific how to be you pause so
this is such a funny thing to to think
about but I guess you could it’s easy to
understand why if you base it on my
social media accounts alone so I am an
artist an author and a creative
entrepreneur and most of my life is
documented in well curated photos on
Instagram artworks works in progress
growing every day and posting it on
social media but the funny thing is it
got me thinking why would anyone want to
be me they don’t know what they’re
asking for and if anything the only
reply that I could give is it’s
impossible to be another me and you know
what it’s okay it was last it was only
last year that I felt completely
comfortable not having to conform to
what society’s expectations were you
know when when you earn artists people
think you have to look a certain way or
like being all black and we all emo and
or had to be a certain type of person
but I realized that this career that I
have eventually built for myself it’s
all self directed I don’t have anyone to
report to I don’t have a boss I do my
own work I can only be the one to set
the limits to what I can or can’t do and
one of the main drivers that has led me
to where I am today
is passion so passion is defined as
something or something that you are
excited or highly interested in and
eventually finding fulfillment in as you
pursue it
so passion is such a big word like when
you look online people are all like Oh
pursue your passion it’s going to make
your life like completes find your
passion and chatter etc everyone has
been really into this big word and when
I first gave my TEDx talk I stressed on
the importance of finding your passion
at the right time so
timing is everything and up to this day
I still believe in that in that seeing
or in that statement because up until
now
sure art is my passion but it’s not only
where it lies I still want to do more
than just art and eventually as you grow
old things really change and some things
just transpire over time you can be
passionate about so many things and
passion is something that you constantly
improve on and few will endlessly it’s
not just sorry guys there’s no math
formula to like find your passion or
when do you get it and it’s a trial and
error thing it’s something you don’t
actively just wait for it to come to you
you have to seek ways to find it and you
can be passionate about so many things
it can be math science or it can be a
specific as helping other people or
discovering how things work but I guess
the our uniqueness and personal
preferences really define what we’re
passionate about and help us sort of
have an umbrella to house everything
together as for me I’ve always been
passionate about art at a very young age
so when I first picked up my pen pencil
at five years old I started to draw
every time the ritual dance for at least
I wouldn’t join games I would be in the
corner coloring so that was one of the
Britney poison attended before and I
didn’t know why I liked drawing so much
I just knew that I didn’t have an
introvert by nature I’m 90% introvert so
I didn’t like talking to a lot of people
so I didn’t know why I liked drawing was
it because I could draw and I could just
show people my world I wasn’t sure but
one thing that I told myself that I was
sure of before was I would not pick up a
creative career I would not pursue
anything related to making art I
actually need two copies advertising
management in college and it’s not
related to art at all it’s more of
making strategies creating campaigns and
we can add agency so eventually I worked
as a strategic planner so most of them
so my rig sketch
would be every day I go to work from 9
to 6 p.m. and then my work would include
browsing Excel sheets answering doing
PowerPoint presentations presenting to
clients and then when I went home at
around 8 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. I would
draw every night I would draw our dick
photos I would post on Instagram I would
have this alter-egos accordin called IBC
at that time and then people would share
all my work and I’m quote-unquote famous
on social media so apparently I didn’t
expect that I would build a world of my
own and it was and another thing a plot
twist is actually the une first give me
that next stop a few weeks after I filed
my resignation letter because the TEDx
talk that I gave before talked about how
you should pursue your passion and be
passionate about something but I
realized that if I didn’t listen to my
own voice what was the point of giving
at their next stop that didn’t matter so
I guess you can say I’m living the dream
right now pursuing my passion at the
same time making art and I’ve always
been passionate about art but right now
I can say yes it has expanded to not
just making art but really more of
sharing it and inspiring others in the
process so this was during my second
book launch last year for the ABCs of
journaling so by the way ABC is a B C so
that’s so that that’s where the nickname
came about so every time I go to these
events of course as an introvert I feel
really shy but at the same time it’s
really nice seeing all these young kids
seeing all these kids come to me and
tell me you know I feel really inspired
by the work that you put out and it’s
great to see how the creative community
here in the Philippines is constantly
growing and evolving and I feel like I
should always be I feel like it’s my
responsibility to be like an asset to
them and sort of guide them in their own
creative journey now another thing that
a lot of people ask me is with regards
to their passion or with regards to
making art is how do I start or how do I
didn’t you and the only way I can answer
that is through this word inspiration so
inspiration as cliche as it sounds it’s
everywhere it’s and the team it’s on TV
it’s on the books it’s in the books you
read it’s really everywhere anything
that you consume is inspiring and it’s
up to us to tune in to the most relevant
bits and pieces of what can inspire you
because when you take in so many things
you actually try to showcase it into how
you interpret your inspiration and you
can be inspired about so many things and
the thing is it’s impossible it’s
possible to be over stimulated or over
inspired so you know how we’re exposed
to so many things and then you just try
to absorb everything but at the same
time you feel very overwhelmed so a
trick is of course you have to learn how
to filter it so filtering inspiration is
like filtering your coffee you’re
separating what’s good from the bad it’s
important to filter it because when you
feel overwhelmed with all these things
that you’re seeing around you there’s a
tendency for you to not move forward so
as art as an artist I feel like it’s
important to have some sort of limits to
what I can do some and it’s also
important to be able to translate this
in the best way that you can so it has
come to my conclusion that I’m highly
inspired by many things which I just
realized recently so Vincent van Gogh is
my favorite artist and apparently I love
sunflowers so he has a spin thing of
sunflowers which is kind of ironic and
then Harry Potter is my favorite series
of books slash films and apparently I
have this thing for creating new worlds
or like being immersed in new things and
then I love coming-of-age movies those
are that’s my favorite film genre and
apparently I have a preference for
reading anthologies and personal essays
in terms of book types of books that I
read so these are some things that
really piqued my interest and at the
same time reminded me
that hey I’m actually inspired by all
these things around me that really
cultivate into the type of person that I
am today
so when when my friend and I and my
friend Risa and I collaborated on this
Harry Potter themed series of artworks
if you think about it JK Rowling started
Harry Potter as artists it’s our it’s
our task to sort of get something from
it and sort of turn it into our own
thing so that’s the whole concept of
inspiration so everyone because everyone
is very focused on you know how when you
get inspiration sometimes it turns into
copying so that’s actually not the same
and by doing this we create a new world
a new way to communicate with other
people and that’s such a rewarding thing
to do because you’re able to showcase to
the world another way to look at things
and you know as people we have our own
perspectives and ideas and these are all
being used up once you get inspired and
try to convert it into your own work so
it’s also similar to how I do my books
and create the content that comes with
it sometimes I feel like what’s the
matter what’s what’s the point of being
so inspired or why is it why is it that
my inspiration has to matter but upon
doing some of the publications that I’ve
done books that I’ve written it gave me
that sense of that sense of that sense
of it made me a reminder that my
inspiration can actually come into this
type of form so I’ve been doing
lettering since I was a young kid since
since penmanship contest in st. Jude
started so I was a constant
I was Takashi a Qatari also and my mom
would actually help me train for my
penmanship and both calligraphy and in
English penmanship so I was I’ve been
doing it for a really long time and then
when I got to the opportunity to write a
book for lettering I was
like are you serious I really really
think I’m going to I can actually do it
but I guess the whole well when you’re
really passionate about something it
really reflects in your work and that’s
something that I found very interesting
because when I was doing my second book
which is about journaling which also
started because you know in school
there’s I don’t know what subject but
you know you’re not writing so you have
to submit so every time I submit my
let’s all very I usually write a lot so
you’re nothing has given me personally a
gateway to express how I feel and right
now it has it has become some sort of
big trend like people love writing about
it and it’s a very therapeutic thing so
it’s really interesting how all of these
sort of reflect and how inspiration can
actually give other people their own
inspiration to do what they want with it
so when I was working on my first
magazine issue earlier this year it was
only then that I reminded myself how
important it is for inspiration to be
shared with other people so inspiration
usually when you see something you’re
all like okay I’m done with it
this is for me I’m gonna close my
cabinet this is my filter this is my
sort of Bank of ideas but what’s great
about sharing it is not only just you
being able to express it to other people
but at the same time you’re finding
connections in some way so you know you
know that feeling when you share
something and people actually feel the
same way so that’s priceless and that’s
something that I realized when I started
working on my magazine so it was a dream
of mine to do a magazine so pretty
surreal seeing it come to life and when
I finished doing it I realized that your
own inspiration and passion can also
spark something in others and that’s
something that I want to remind everyone
because it’s not just about you know
making art and feeling inspired and
trying
– like showcase it to the world it’s
really more of creating and finding ways
to be better at what you can do and at
the same time I remind that I’m going to
leave with you guys is when I was doing
my magazine I had this hashtag get
what’s called ABC read search so people
are asking me what is read search is so
weird
I said actually it’s called research
because it’s reading plus research so I
started to do that because I tried to
look for inspiration that would you will
need to create the magazine and sort of
express to people what I can with how my
brain works so eventually once a
magazine came out it felt really
rewarding to see that this research sort
of paid off so every time now I post
online like doing research
people are asking so you’re doing
research already so it’s really
interesting to to have that sort of
curiosity because what I realize is when
you are curious and you keep on learning
things you never stop and that’s
something that I always want people to
remember because creating is not just
you know painting every day making art
or doing things that inspire you it’s
more of fuelling yourself with so many
of the beautiful things around you
turning it into your own and sharing it
to the world because at the end of the
day this life is really worth sharing to
everyone thank you
you
media accounts a lot of my readers would
send me this question it’s how to be you
or to be specific how to be you pause so
this is such a funny thing to to think
about but I guess you could it’s easy to
understand why if you base it on my
social media accounts alone so I am an
artist an author and a creative
entrepreneur and most of my life is
documented in well curated photos on
Instagram artworks works in progress
growing every day and posting it on
social media but the funny thing is it
got me thinking why would anyone want to
be me they don’t know what they’re
asking for and if anything the only
reply that I could give is it’s
impossible to be another me and you know
what it’s okay it was last it was only
last year that I felt completely
comfortable not having to conform to
what society’s expectations were you
know when when you earn artists people
think you have to look a certain way or
like being all black and we all emo and
or had to be a certain type of person
but I realized that this career that I
have eventually built for myself it’s
all self directed I don’t have anyone to
report to I don’t have a boss I do my
own work I can only be the one to set
the limits to what I can or can’t do and
one of the main drivers that has led me
to where I am today
is passion so passion is defined as
something or something that you are
excited or highly interested in and
eventually finding fulfillment in as you
pursue it
so passion is such a big word like when
you look online people are all like Oh
pursue your passion it’s going to make
your life like completes find your
passion and chatter etc everyone has
been really into this big word and when
I first gave my TEDx talk I stressed on
the importance of finding your passion
at the right time so
timing is everything and up to this day
I still believe in that in that seeing
or in that statement because up until
now
sure art is my passion but it’s not only
where it lies I still want to do more
than just art and eventually as you grow
old things really change and some things
just transpire over time you can be
passionate about so many things and
passion is something that you constantly
improve on and few will endlessly it’s
not just sorry guys there’s no math
formula to like find your passion or
when do you get it and it’s a trial and
error thing it’s something you don’t
actively just wait for it to come to you
you have to seek ways to find it and you
can be passionate about so many things
it can be math science or it can be a
specific as helping other people or
discovering how things work but I guess
the our uniqueness and personal
preferences really define what we’re
passionate about and help us sort of
have an umbrella to house everything
together as for me I’ve always been
passionate about art at a very young age
so when I first picked up my pen pencil
at five years old I started to draw
every time the ritual dance for at least
I wouldn’t join games I would be in the
corner coloring so that was one of the
Britney poison attended before and I
didn’t know why I liked drawing so much
I just knew that I didn’t have an
introvert by nature I’m 90% introvert so
I didn’t like talking to a lot of people
so I didn’t know why I liked drawing was
it because I could draw and I could just
show people my world I wasn’t sure but
one thing that I told myself that I was
sure of before was I would not pick up a
creative career I would not pursue
anything related to making art I
actually need two copies advertising
management in college and it’s not
related to art at all it’s more of
making strategies creating campaigns and
we can add agency so eventually I worked
as a strategic planner so most of them
so my rig sketch
would be every day I go to work from 9
to 6 p.m. and then my work would include
browsing Excel sheets answering doing
PowerPoint presentations presenting to
clients and then when I went home at
around 8 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. I would
draw every night I would draw our dick
photos I would post on Instagram I would
have this alter-egos accordin called IBC
at that time and then people would share
all my work and I’m quote-unquote famous
on social media so apparently I didn’t
expect that I would build a world of my
own and it was and another thing a plot
twist is actually the une first give me
that next stop a few weeks after I filed
my resignation letter because the TEDx
talk that I gave before talked about how
you should pursue your passion and be
passionate about something but I
realized that if I didn’t listen to my
own voice what was the point of giving
at their next stop that didn’t matter so
I guess you can say I’m living the dream
right now pursuing my passion at the
same time making art and I’ve always
been passionate about art but right now
I can say yes it has expanded to not
just making art but really more of
sharing it and inspiring others in the
process so this was during my second
book launch last year for the ABCs of
journaling so by the way ABC is a B C so
that’s so that that’s where the nickname
came about so every time I go to these
events of course as an introvert I feel
really shy but at the same time it’s
really nice seeing all these young kids
seeing all these kids come to me and
tell me you know I feel really inspired
by the work that you put out and it’s
great to see how the creative community
here in the Philippines is constantly
growing and evolving and I feel like I
should always be I feel like it’s my
responsibility to be like an asset to
them and sort of guide them in their own
creative journey now another thing that
a lot of people ask me is with regards
to their passion or with regards to
making art is how do I start or how do I
didn’t you and the only way I can answer
that is through this word inspiration so
inspiration as cliche as it sounds it’s
everywhere it’s and the team it’s on TV
it’s on the books it’s in the books you
read it’s really everywhere anything
that you consume is inspiring and it’s
up to us to tune in to the most relevant
bits and pieces of what can inspire you
because when you take in so many things
you actually try to showcase it into how
you interpret your inspiration and you
can be inspired about so many things and
the thing is it’s impossible it’s
possible to be over stimulated or over
inspired so you know how we’re exposed
to so many things and then you just try
to absorb everything but at the same
time you feel very overwhelmed so a
trick is of course you have to learn how
to filter it so filtering inspiration is
like filtering your coffee you’re
separating what’s good from the bad it’s
important to filter it because when you
feel overwhelmed with all these things
that you’re seeing around you there’s a
tendency for you to not move forward so
as art as an artist I feel like it’s
important to have some sort of limits to
what I can do some and it’s also
important to be able to translate this
in the best way that you can so it has
come to my conclusion that I’m highly
inspired by many things which I just
realized recently so Vincent van Gogh is
my favorite artist and apparently I love
sunflowers so he has a spin thing of
sunflowers which is kind of ironic and
then Harry Potter is my favorite series
of books slash films and apparently I
have this thing for creating new worlds
or like being immersed in new things and
then I love coming-of-age movies those
are that’s my favorite film genre and
apparently I have a preference for
reading anthologies and personal essays
in terms of book types of books that I
read so these are some things that
really piqued my interest and at the
same time reminded me
that hey I’m actually inspired by all
these things around me that really
cultivate into the type of person that I
am today
so when when my friend and I and my
friend Risa and I collaborated on this
Harry Potter themed series of artworks
if you think about it JK Rowling started
Harry Potter as artists it’s our it’s
our task to sort of get something from
it and sort of turn it into our own
thing so that’s the whole concept of
inspiration so everyone because everyone
is very focused on you know how when you
get inspiration sometimes it turns into
copying so that’s actually not the same
and by doing this we create a new world
a new way to communicate with other
people and that’s such a rewarding thing
to do because you’re able to showcase to
the world another way to look at things
and you know as people we have our own
perspectives and ideas and these are all
being used up once you get inspired and
try to convert it into your own work so
it’s also similar to how I do my books
and create the content that comes with
it sometimes I feel like what’s the
matter what’s what’s the point of being
so inspired or why is it why is it that
my inspiration has to matter but upon
doing some of the publications that I’ve
done books that I’ve written it gave me
that sense of that sense of that sense
of it made me a reminder that my
inspiration can actually come into this
type of form so I’ve been doing
lettering since I was a young kid since
since penmanship contest in st. Jude
started so I was a constant
I was Takashi a Qatari also and my mom
would actually help me train for my
penmanship and both calligraphy and in
English penmanship so I was I’ve been
doing it for a really long time and then
when I got to the opportunity to write a
book for lettering I was
like are you serious I really really
think I’m going to I can actually do it
but I guess the whole well when you’re
really passionate about something it
really reflects in your work and that’s
something that I found very interesting
because when I was doing my second book
which is about journaling which also
started because you know in school
there’s I don’t know what subject but
you know you’re not writing so you have
to submit so every time I submit my
let’s all very I usually write a lot so
you’re nothing has given me personally a
gateway to express how I feel and right
now it has it has become some sort of
big trend like people love writing about
it and it’s a very therapeutic thing so
it’s really interesting how all of these
sort of reflect and how inspiration can
actually give other people their own
inspiration to do what they want with it
so when I was working on my first
magazine issue earlier this year it was
only then that I reminded myself how
important it is for inspiration to be
shared with other people so inspiration
usually when you see something you’re
all like okay I’m done with it
this is for me I’m gonna close my
cabinet this is my filter this is my
sort of Bank of ideas but what’s great
about sharing it is not only just you
being able to express it to other people
but at the same time you’re finding
connections in some way so you know you
know that feeling when you share
something and people actually feel the
same way so that’s priceless and that’s
something that I realized when I started
working on my magazine so it was a dream
of mine to do a magazine so pretty
surreal seeing it come to life and when
I finished doing it I realized that your
own inspiration and passion can also
spark something in others and that’s
something that I want to remind everyone
because it’s not just about you know
making art and feeling inspired and
trying
– like showcase it to the world it’s
really more of creating and finding ways
to be better at what you can do and at
the same time I remind that I’m going to
leave with you guys is when I was doing
my magazine I had this hashtag get
what’s called ABC read search so people
are asking me what is read search is so
weird
I said actually it’s called research
because it’s reading plus research so I
started to do that because I tried to
look for inspiration that would you will
need to create the magazine and sort of
express to people what I can with how my
brain works so eventually once a
magazine came out it felt really
rewarding to see that this research sort
of paid off so every time now I post
online like doing research
people are asking so you’re doing
research already so it’s really
interesting to to have that sort of
curiosity because what I realize is when
you are curious and you keep on learning
things you never stop and that’s
something that I always want people to
remember because creating is not just
you know painting every day making art
or doing things that inspire you it’s
more of fuelling yourself with so many
of the beautiful things around you
turning it into your own and sharing it
to the world because at the end of the
day this life is really worth sharing to
everyone thank you
you
Please follow and like us: