I have always been known to be a passionate person and others see that in my work. My passion drives me to do as much research as possible to ensure that I am correctly reflecting any cultures in my artwork. When I create a character, I don’t just design their appearance, but I look into backgrounds to see what makes them who they are as a person. I think it’s important to have all the information you need to design a character before bringing them to life because once you do, everything comes all together and that fictional character becomes a reality.

 

Researching helps me be a better person as well because by doing as much research as possible on religion, culture, or even ethnicity I become less ignorant and it reflects in my artwork. It is also important for me to ensure that I do not wrongfully insult someone with my artwork since I use to struggle with social skills. I knew I was different from others because my social skills were lacking compared to other people. I learn and process information differently from other students. I prefer everything to be more visual, so whenever I struggled to explain something, I used to draw out my thoughts rather than using words. I felt very much like an outcast while growing up thanks to my inability to explain very well. Later, I learned from my parents that I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. 

 

I did research on autism to fully understand myself and got help from groups like CARD Center for Autism and Related Disorders. I worked with different therapists and they helped me to grow and mature. They helped develop my social skills and my being more independent. I’ve met people my age who are diagnosed with autism which allowed me to see each of us is unique in our own way but we can learn from each other to help improve ourselves. This motivated me to tell new stories through original characters who are on the spectrum and diverse.

I am a creator that is influenced by the unusual and quirky things around me that I have found on my journey. I do retellings of stories of my experiences in a unique way and that is what makes me powerful in my world. My voice, my choices, and my communication style are gentle but thought-provoking and are all away from the norm. On my own path, I am a creator in a fearless way. I created an original character based on myself to tell a narrative that is informative towards autism awareness. The story will be called Spectrum and it will take place in a fantasy gothic fairytale world with a monster narrative. The main character is Riley Midnight who has based on my life experiences dealing with autism, my struggles, and how discovered myself as a person.  

 

Video games and art has been always a part of my life thanks to my family. My mom is a painter and use to be a fashion designer, my older brother exposed me to video games and animes and my dad is a musician in multiple bands. My family has always been passionate about the arts and that helped me decide what I wanted to do in life. I’m striving to be an animator in the video game industry while also focusing on storytelling. Thus, my degree in Game art and animation has all the qualities I need to achieve these goals. With this degree, I want to tell unique stories through my art and hope it affects people's lives in a positive way. 

 

During my academic studies, I’ve had to research many different cultures, and the one that stood out to me the most is India. I discovered how beautiful Indian culture is but also found out how horrific it can be as well. India is a country where women are given the status of goddess, however, the problems they have to face is the opposite of that concept.  I learned India is the most dangerous place for young girls to live in because of gender discrimination, sexual abuse, lack of education, and gender pay gaps. This gave me the idea of creating an original character named Abhra the Oracle. A girl from India who Is gifted with psychic abilities and who is diagnosed with Autism. 

 

I wanted to create a character to highlight the problems women face in India but showcase a different side of Autism. During my time at CARD, I’ve met a couple of young kids who are south Asian and were diagnosed with Autism. In media, the representation of Autism is mostly Caucasian males so I decided to use my real-life experience to change that. Girls with autism are harder to diagnose compared to boys because they can mask their social challenges at school. That leads to a problem where girls with autism don’t get the help they need compared to boys. Telling a new story with Abhra a girl from India who face struggles being a girl and a girl who faces social challenges because of her autism can help build awareness. 

Telling new types of stories from different kinds of people can help enlighten the problems of the world we are facing and I’m going to represent that with my original characters.