This Story's Beginning

6/17/2026

Hello. I go by Des or Desi, and you are reading my first-ever blog post. Taking the initiative and sharing my thoughts like this is very exciting, and I’m eager to move forward in this direction. All this time, I was forced to post my thoughts within the limits social media platforms have. It would be nice to share like this on Instagram or Tumblr, but getting engagement there is intimidating, to be completely honest with you.

I’ll do my best to publish thoughtful posts consistently and with care. They will be personal to an extent, and hopefully, you can learn a little bit about me, why I continue to create, and how I make my art.

A part of why I wanted to start a blog is because I: (1) like writing, (2) wanted to record my journey like a journal for everyone to read, and (3) it’s good practice. For the past year or two, I’ve been considering how to reach more people with my art. I do want to try earning some cash from my creations someday, but I am not sure how yet. I gave commissions a try years ago, but looking back on that, I don’t think I was ready. They were open with the precursor that nothing happens overnight, but the silence was deafening long enough to the point where I had to close them. Now that I’m older and researching marketing tactics, I understand that posting up a commission sheet and waiting for clients to show up without putting in extra work is unrealistic. I’ve learned that being more personal, consistent, and developing a niche are some of the keys to finding my true audience. So I need to be more patient with myself.

“Life is a marathon, not a sprint.”

It makes me happy to know that pursuing the major of my dreams is also teaching me how to move like a professional artist. I have learned that telling a story is important to creating a body of work. As of right now, I’m still unsure of what specific career I want to strive for, but I am still enjoying this ride called “life”.

Getting Control

Around 2015, my Instagram page was created, and inadvertently, it became my home base for posting art. It used to be fun to post on a regular basis and connect with other art enthusiasts. Today, Instagram is completely different, and it values fast-paced content in video form over static images. At a point, I’ve become more distant from my main account, and because of that, it feels like it’s frozen in time. My being distant was a combination of becoming busier and losing motivation. The fact that most of these platforms are taking advantage of our attention spans and liberty by implementing AI without notice has left me feeling tired and defeated when I returned to posting. It felt like I had no control over my work.

This is essentially why I learned the basics of HTML and CSS to create my own website. It has been posted up since December last year and is hosted on a website called Neocities. Designing my website is enriching, and I have a long way to go to perfecting it’s look. It’s named the “Krispydoughnut Cafe,” and its purpose is to serve as an unprofessional portfolio so others can see what my style is.

I shall briefly advertise why you should have your own website, no matter who or what you are! Your website will be your own: you customize it however you like, you can share whatever you want, you can create whatever you want, and your creations are not at the mercy of shady companies firsthand. A personal anecdote I can provide is that having a website has inspired me to be more creative and helped to give me that push to think about my output more logically. Every time I glance at my page, I’m always spotting something I can improve on to make it more inviting for future viewers.

Niche?

With that said, I have been thinking hard about what my niche is. Finding your niche is important in discovering what kind of creator you are and what you specialize in. The video below helped me narrow down my thoughts.

For the artists who want to find their niche, please give yourself time. There’s no need to rush; just explore.

I watched multiple how-to videos, and many have come up with these questions to base your discovery on:

What are your interests?
What are you good at?
What message do you want to share?

My Interests

Ever since I’ve been exposed to anime and manga, I’ve strived to draw in a similar style. If you look at my past work, you can spot a lot of fan art. Lately, I’ve been trying to get more in touch with my original characters and am making an effort to take a step back from creating so much fan art. A couple of years ago, I learned that fishing for more followers by posting fan art for a piece of media was not the right path for me. Follower count should be the least of your worries. Not every follower gained from going viral will stay. But the ones who do stay are one of a kind, and they’ve shown interest in seeing your journey.

I love animation, comics, and video games altogether. I’m fascinated with making original characters and coming up with stories for them. I want to continue creating fan art whenever I like, but I also want to share my original characters with the world. Right now, I enjoy drawing characters in different scenarios, whether playful or dramatic.

Aesthetically, I’m drawn to the retro style I see in entertainment, which is mostly in the 80’s and 90’s. The fashion, patterns, music, and feel are what I like to replicate sometimes. I used to follow this aesthetic more often back then, but for some reason, I don’t put as much effort into it nowadays. So, thinking about that, that’s something I will work on going forward.

What Am I Good At?

When people previously shared comments on my art style, they almost always tied it back to looking like it should be in a comic book. This observation is spot on, and comic books are at the center of my inspiration. I love to read manga and observe how artists work within monochromatic limits. I want to create a comic one day, but in the meantime, I’ve taught myself how to utilize a dip pen, fine line pens, brush pens, and even draw with them before watercoloring. I am a big fan of ink. I lack a steady hand, and I’m clumsy, but it’s okay because I genuinely love what it is capable of.

Furthermore, animation has been something I’ve shown great interest in. It would be a long list if I had to come up with all my sources of inspiration. What’s important is that FlipNote on the DSi is where my animation journey began. I’m not as proficient as I’d like to be in animating, but I still do my best to create what I can.

As mentioned before, I enjoy drawing characters. I’m pretty good at drawing in a cutesy style and giving my artwork a more lighthearted atmosphere. Whenever I depict a person realistically or stylistically, I excel at giving them expressive emotions and translating that from the canvas to the real world.

What's My Message?

Now this is where I draw a blank. I hope to find what message I’m most passionate about in my journey. I believe finding my message is what’s closest to discovering who I am. For whatever reason, it feels embarrassing to say that at my big age of 25 years old, I still can’t pin down who I am as a person. I don’t think I reached my full potential just yet, and there’s still so much more for me to experience in life.

That is why this is just the beginning of my story. I would like to create these blogs at least once every few months. I will be sharing a part of myself and, in turn, maybe sharing some nuggets of knowledge and motivation for those going through a similar path. Perhaps they can be more well-researched in the future, too. It doesn’t hurt to write an essay for funsies. Thank you for reading.