Hi! I am Rizza, but you can call me Schire as it is my pen name, and I am a renewed artist. “Renewed” because I have only recently got back to doing my passion. And this is why.
Ever since I was 4, I already have this immense interest on colors and figures. As a kid, I would mostly spend my time drawing and coloring pictures. I remember joining my first ever art competition during pre-school. I was extremely excited however, unfortunately, I caught a flue and was not able to participate on the said event. I was so down but I promised myself that I will make this an inspiration to join many more art competitions in the future and to improve my skill.
During grade school, I was scouted by the editor-in-chief and coach of the campus newspaper to be their editorial cartoonist. It was such a great news for me given that I was still very young to be part of their team. This made me double my efforts to prove to them that they made the right choice. I got my first award, as champion, in the Editorial Cartooning contest on that same year (4th grade).
Since then, I’ve been a constant in many competitions, may it be poster making contest, painting, or cartooning. I was always winning those competitions and I was very sure already that I am at my best. I was very confident that somehow, I forgot to practice more. My drive during my early years was not the same anymore. The 4-5 artworks I made everyday had become just 1 or sometimes none at all. There was even a time when I just didn’t want to draw anymore. I wasn’t that bothered when that happened because I thought that my talents will be forever- that’s what I thought.
When I reached college, that’s when I realized how amateur I am compared to the many artists I’ve encountered. Many of them have been an artist for 10-15 years, but they still believe that they always need improvement. They did not think that their talent was enough to make them known. They believe that practice makes an artist who she/he is. Some of them believes that even if you do not know how to draw now, through practice, you can be the best artist there is. And I realized that’s true. Because after a long hiatus of not doing any art, my drawings just became so basic and so lifeless compared to those who have never stopped practicing and learning new things. What surprised me even more was that, my classmate who never painted and created art before was now a very famous artist in my community. But me, who have been an artist since the age of 4 can’t even finish one artwork.
Since then, I started practicing again. I made this memo to try new art styles and medium. I even now practice doing digital art. I realized that everything around us changes and that we need to keep up with that change. Art will forever be beautiful but we have to be reminded that beauty changes through time. What we thought is beautiful now might not be the same in the next years to come. So as an artist, we have to be versatile enough to deal with different kinds of beauty because that is one way we could make better art that will inspire the people around us.
P. S. I made this cartoon using Photoshop CS6. Let’s support all artists around the world!