Inspiration quotes for a manga journey (part 2)
from Praziquantel
A brief summary of what I am going to discuss here in this post
Seeing that it will be long post, for people in a hurry, I will give a synopsis of what I am going to blog in here.
4 basic steps to realise your dream:
- Know the challenges that lies ahead of your situation.
- Know your strengths and weaknesses.
- Adopt countermeasures in response to what you know.
- Understand that pursuing your dream is a marathon, not a 100 metre dash.
I will be using my personal experiences in my context, so to know more, please read on.
Inspiration quotes for a manga journey (part 2)
As promised, and because I am also in the midst of exams currently (so I am not drawing much), I am going to reveal some of my challenges that I previously faced. If I could share more, I will share about what I currently face.
I made many mistakes when I was a teenager, especially in wrong choices. Not that I chose immoral choices, but the majority of my decisions that shaped my life has not been perfect.
For instance, after Cambridge ‘O’ levels in my secondary school or high school days, we need to choose a tertiary education, either in a polytechnic school where we earn our diplomas, or continue in an advanced high school education (we call it Junior Colleges in Singapore).
Now 9 years ago (year 2000), Junior Colleges are generally considered better schools than polytechnic schools, because the top 20% of the cohort in ‘O’ levels are found in there (or so it seems). Junior College holds the prestige of ensuring a direct route to Universities, while in polytechnic school, only the top 10% of the course will get in.
That’s 9 years ago, and many things changed for now.
Anyway, to cut it short, I barely missed the mark to get into a Junior College. Got 21 points, where the cut-off is 20. I wanted to go into a Junior College because of the prestige, because of my friends, and because I think I could do it. So I ended up in a polytechnic school.
I made plans to get back into Junior College by retaking my ‘O’ levels, while studying in polytechnic school. I was doing well in polytechnic school; getting distinctions and all, but my heart was into Junior College because I think I could do well in there.
The tradeoff for getting into a Junior College is that the workload is at least 10 times greater than polytechnic schools. Many students couldn’t cope with the workload and suffered in there; dropped out or had to retain for one year.
I thought I could do it, so the next year, I actually scored well enough to get back into Junior College, and I went back.
That began the two hellish year that I could ever think of. I couldn’t cope at all, and at the end though I passed my exams I couldn’t score well at all.
In Singapore, passing our grades doesn’t ensure us getting into universities. We need to attain a level grades at least.
So it was tough, as I always regretted my decision to go back to Junior College when I could do well in polytechnic school.
What was the problem? I thought too highly of myself in my abilities.
While it is good to maintain a positive self-image, we must be realistic with our weaknesses and shortcomings as well. I am not the very hardworking kind. Of course I do what is necessary to fulfill my duties, but certainly to push myself to be hardworking has never been a successful endeavor.
To survive in Junior College in Singapore, a very hardworking attitude cannot be compromised for success.
Polytechnic was less stressful than Junior College, hence I could score well in the former, but not in the latter.
That was my first painful experience.
Inspiration quote: “Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” – Sun Tzu
Pride can kill.
Like I mentioned, while it is good to maintain a positive self-esteem, not being realistic or honest with our weaknesses can lead to heartaches and pains.
Please do not think that being realistic with your circumstances and the challenges of your pursuit in your dreams is to be discouraging to yourself.
Being ignorant with the knowledge of ourselves and of our challenges ahead is like dream-walking towards our dream. It’s just sleepwalking where we would regret making un-informed decisions and have to retrace our steps.
It makes us discouraged and tempts us to give up our pursuit faster than anything else. Understand the storms ahead and plunge through with knowledge and gutso is a better deal.
Challenges to deal with in my manga journey
“A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” Proverbs 29:23 (KJV)
After learning from a bad setback, I understand that my journey towards becoming a semi-professional artist isn’t just going to be a bed of roses.
In the earlier post here, I mentioned about the uphill challenge of publishing comics in the industry where I live in.
So what’s my weaknesses or the shortcomings of my situation?
I mentioned in this post here that I am already in my mid-twenties. I am a final-year undergrad for the Bachelor of Computer Science, majoring in Digital Security(I am changing major into Games and Multimedia Development for the manga journey pursuit).
Therefore I only have 1 year before launching out to the society and be financially independent from my parents. I can’t be a semi-professional manga artist in 1 year’s time.
(1st Challenge: Lack enough time to quickly be competent in the art of drawing.)
In my final year of my studies, I have a major final year project that is going to be time-consuming and requires the majority of my focus. Hence concentrating in practising how to draw is not going to be feasible.
(2nd Challenge: Unable to designate time and focus for drawing practices because of studies)
To top it all, mentioned in the very first post of this blog, I have no professional training in art before.
(3rd Challenge: No training in art before)
I lack the capability while having no confidence to draw comic or manga characters.
(4th Challenge: No confidence and lack of competency in drawing.)
Applying the inspiration quote of Sun Tzu: Adopting counter-measures for shortcomings
Firstly, I looked for a manga teacher that could help me in this journey.
(Solution for 3rd challenge)
Like I said in my previous post here, self-learning how to draw make the journey even tougher. Hence looking for a manga teacher can speed up my training.
(Solution for 1st Challenge)
Furthermore this manga teacher of mine has a flexi-schedule; I am able to arrange a time suited to my needs for my lessons.
(Solution for 2nd Challenge)
Also, by having a manga teacher, I could safely say that I am able to practice focus drawing once a week, due to my schedule with my manga teacher.
(Solution for 2nd Challenge)
My manga teacher told me in my first lesson was to build up my confidence and my competency for drawing.
(Solution for 4th Challenge)
Solution for all 4 challenges: Get a manga teacher!
Yes, it means I have to fork out abit of money to do that. However, for my situation of needing to juggle between studies and manga art, it is an endeavor worth taking.
Understand that pursuing a dream is a marathon, not a 100 metre dash
In all these endeavors, it is imperative that one paces himself/herself to engage in such a trail-blazing journey.
Rushing and getting overly-excited will surely burn us up. Taking time to relax and pacing is going to help us in the long run.
I will be speaking more on these terms in future posts though. Especially on how to pace ourselves well in this demanding world. And the challenges presented here are not the end of it, however it really has been a long post. Let us take a break now.
Thanks everyone for reading so far!
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