BORN TO CREATE

Born to Create Issue 1/December 2019

Discover 19 year old fine art student, Keshia Tamidles on her pursuit to the call of creativity.

Growing up with three creative sisters, I was exposed to art at an early age. As a child, I’ve always been amazed when my sisters paint, draw or design for their school projects. My mom as well, taught me how to draw a few figures as a child, enrolled me to summer art classes and bought me coloring books to enjoy while she leaves for work. Since then, I grew interest on art which eventually became my main driving force in life. With it, I had a long love and hate relationship. I tried to give it up a numerous times but I always came back.

During the summers, me and my neighborhood friends would play games, direct plays, venture on places, storytell, invent stuff and watch films - things that ignited my creativity in my younger years.

However on my first attempt to paint a portrait I was discouraged. Way back when I was in third grade,we were told to paint Saint Therese as our project. Among the paintings displayed, my classmates laughed so much at my painting because of how distorted it was, so much that I felt inferior of my skills and slowly quit drawing and painting. But that didn’t stop me from being creative.When I first discovered the camera from my sister’s keypad mobile phone, I was amazed at how you can freeze or replay a moment in a frame. As a child, I took a lot of photos and videos with it. But that was just the first few manifestation of my love for photography and videography.

“ I tried giving up art but the thought of creating it always excites me “

Years passed and it was in high school that I engaged with various form of creative expression, including drawing, painting, crafting, music, video and photo editing. I had also embraced a fanatical interest on watching dramas, movies, documentaries and music videos. Through these films, I was inspired to be a video editor. In 7th grade I tried to learn video editing for fun, which later on came in handy every time teachers would give us video projects, an opportunity for me to also practice editing videos.

Despite my creative pursuits in high school, I could never take it seriously because of how I am always held back from practicing my skills to prioritize my academic life. Back then, I didn’t really know how to balance my studies and passion.Though I did succeed academically, it was not as fulfilling as creating art. Seeing young artists my age who were exceptionally good at art made me feel really behind of my artistic skills for my age. The thought that art may not be for me came to mind which made me think of quitting. So I tried giving up art but the thought of creating it, always excites me.

I wasn’t the best illustrator in class nor did I win medals or certificates for poster making contests like any other artists, but I knew I wanted to draw and design. I was 16 when I realized I wanted to pursue a career in the creative industry, specifically to be a graphic designer. It wasn’t an easy decision as I was caught up over practicality and passion. I had to consider alot of factors like which university to enter, financial budget, employment rate, salary and my parents’ decision, before I could finally decide which course to take. It is at this time that I finally took art seriously. I gathered up my courage and picked up my brush again after a long time. With the help of my family and friends who supported and motivated me to practice, I was able to overcome my art frustrations and creative block. I ventured out on different mediums, from charcoal, to colored pencils, to watercolor to acrylic and many more. I watched a lot of tutorials, read books and joined workshops to improve my art. I am now a full-time second year Fine Arts student majoring in Advertising Arts at the University of San Carlos motivated by my passion for art to become a successful designer someday.

CHARKEME!!