If you had known me long enough, you might have heard me talking (or whining, depending on your point of view) about art, my lack of formal art training, and how I regret it.

Why didn’t I go to art school?* Well, to understand how I ended up in the current state of affair, I have to tell you a little about my life story; I grew up in a lower middle class family. My exposure to art was limited. When I heard ‘art’, it conjured up the likes of Picasso, Van Gogh, the modern pop art, expressionism and abstract art, those of which I didn’t find appealing in the slightest.** I read manga growing up, A LOT of manga. Name the popular manga in ’80 and ’90, chances are that I have read them.*** Naturally and typically, that led to me wanting to draw my own, and draw my own I did. By the time I finished Highschool, I was already published in then leading Thai comic magazine. And worked professionally as a comic artist. When someone mentioned art school, all the images I had in my head were of those people sitting around sketching balls and cones, or splashing colors onto canvas randomly, or drawing lifeless fruits on table.**** That wasn’t what I was interested in. I drew because I wanted to tell stories. I didn’t want to draw what I saw in front of me, I wanted to draw what I saw in my head. So, trying to go to art school didn’t even cross my mind, I never even considered it, I hated art, I like manga. Or so I thought.

I know It was naive and stupid. So what changed?

Around 2007, I became disenchanted with Manga. I won’t go into details. It suffices to say that I want to do something more, something else. I became interested in realistic style CG, concept art. I subscribed to ImagineFX magazine and started to hear names like William-Adolphe Bouguereau (never got his name right), Arnold Bocklin, Gustave Dore, J.C Leyendecker, John Singer Sargent, and Ilya Repin. And I realized, shit, this is art and I like it.*****

And this is the skill level I want to attend.

I just wish it didn’t take me this long to find out, and hope it isn’t too late.

^{* I actually forgone university entirely, but that’s another story.
** I still don’t.
*** Please don’t test me, I probably only know Thai title, and only those that popular in Thailand :3
**** I understand that this is not an accurate portrayal of art school, but this was how it was portrayed in Thai movies.
***** This is not, I repeat, NOT, an implication that manga or comic isn’t art. Because I fully realized that it is. But this is not what this post is about.}