The Artist as a Child
THE ARTIST AS A CHILD
What were your interests as a child?
Aside from playing games with my friends and watching cartoons on TV, I was often found in one corner of the house doodling with sheets and sheets of paper. I also was interested in paper construction and made attempts to do scale models of objects using board, paper and glue.
When did you first show signs of a desire to create art? When did you start drawing, painting?
As far as I remember, I was already encouraged by my relatives to continue my interest in drawing when I drew sticky figures at the age of four. My Auntie Mel, who now organizes annual art exhibits as part of her organization’s activity in Seattle, was my ardent supporter. At a young age, I was simply making marks on paper, fiddling with crayons, pencils and erasers. Using watercolor came when I used that to do artworks for my grade school art subjects. From then on, I looked forward to my art classes in school and joined art contests.
Did you draw a lot as a kid?
I would often use up pads of paper just to give in to my desire to draw. I also remember using pages of my school notebooks for doodling. Pencil was enough for me then, and I would copy my favorite cartoon characters. Often, I would draw a favorite Disney character incessantly until I mastered it without looking at my references. Then I further experimented with other media such as pen and ink, crayons, pastels and watercolor. Oil paint came in much later, but I was introduced to that when I was around 9 to 10 years old.
Who first saw your inclination to art? Who encouraged you, pushed you? Who was your first teacher before you even enrolled in formal art school?
My family was the very reason I got inspired to pursue my training as an artist. My aunt and grandmother generously provided me with art materials, while my mother and father enrolled me for five consecutive summers in art workshops conducted by Mr. Fernando Sena. He was my first mentor, and I owe much of my being an artist to him. It was through him that I experienced how it was to be an artist.
