How A Brown Kid Grew Up To Be A Designer

Reading time: 5 minutes

This article is a bit longer but I hope it helps someone who needs it!

I often get messages from aspiring designers and creatives about where to start the creative journey or how to even start. I understand that it’s not easy and it seems very difficult. So I thought to give a little insight and some tips as to how I got started and the early steps that lead to me earning a living through creativity, by Allah’s permission.

(disclaimer: by no means am I an expert, I’m still a work in progress.)

I grew up in an Asian household. Brown people who ate rice, curry and occassionaly roti. So like most Asian families, the expectations were placed on me since early in my childhood that I had to have a job which was “proper”, like becoming an engineer, an architect, a pilot or something else along those lines.

But I had different ambitions, I just didn’t know what it was. All I knew is that I loved art. Period. It was rejuvenating that I could creatively express myself with a pencil, some crayons and a piece of paper.

So when I began school I would enjoy doing anything related to arts and crafts and after school I’d watch Art Attack and get my daily fix of creative inspiration as a 90’s kid. Good times.

But being a kid from a Bangladeshi background I was told that I can’t be an artist or designer. Of course I couldn’t. I’m not allowed to draw living beings as a Muslim (this was 100% valid) but also, according to people this couldn’t be a proper job. It was only something I can do as a hobby, how will I earn a living from this when I get older? These were some of the questions and doubts some were expressing when I was young.

So what did I do? I pursued it anyway.

Over the years I carried on doing art, it got me recognition amongst my fellow students and teachers and tbh, sometimes as a kid that goes a long way. However, as I got older even I would occasionally ask myself am I making the right choices or is this just a big mistake that'll end with me working in a job unrelated to my skills or passion? At the same time, I still had family members and my peers question me about my involvement in the field of Art and Design. No. They completely doubted me altogether and firmly believed it was a waste of time and that my future was looking bleak.

I basically felt like this:

What do you think I did? Like any sensible person, I thought “yeah, let me carry on."

And things were about to change.

During my A-Levels I began to develop an interest in urban arts and graffiti (shoutout to Banksy). And for my art project I experimented with stencil art and Arabic calligraphy. Sadly I can’t find any photos of my earliest pieces other than this. Yes I’m aware that the calligraphy is horrible lol. 😬

I used to carry my work in and out of college and some students noticed and were interested in buying art pieces from me. This was the turning point. I was asked to make a piece of spray-painted art and I would hesitantly ask them to pay a price.

I sold my first piece for £15 😳 at the time it felt amazing. Someone had actually paid real money to buy something I made after years of being told that I’d have no future doing this.

I was doing BUSINE$$ and ART.

It felt like I had unlocked this new activity in my life where I can not only do art and enjoy it but I can make money from it too.

After my first official customer, more students and even some teachers were requesting to buy pieces of art that I would make using stencils and spraypaints. Word had spread and people outside of college were asking me to make them paintings too and they were willing to pay for it.

Eventually I was requested to make a hand-made, spray-painted display banner for a community project. I was paid £100.

🤑 ONE HUNDRED GREAT BRITISH POUNDS. 🤑

As a young guy in college with no other source of income other than what my parents would give, this was A LOT of money. I could fund my coursework expenses or even better, buy some games for my Nintendo GameCube 🤫🎮. And it was from those early experiences I knew with certainty that having skills or a passion in art, design and creativity in general can actually be used to make a living. Every doubt or discouragement I had heard whilst growing up was slowly fading away.

It took me well over 10 years since I started school and being involved in creativity to finally experience this major win which set the trajectory for what was ahead. Looking back at it, all it really took was 1) being passionate and doing the work 2) showing the work 3) being brave enough to slap a price on it.

And of course, all of this comes with having tawakkul (trust) in Allah.

I share all of that to tell you this. It takes time but don’t let your ambitions fade away, especially as a creative. Even when people doubt you or try and divert you from your goals. Be firm and push yourself to get what you want. You owe it to yourself to try and pursue something you’re passionate about, even if people can’t see your vision.

It’s not easy, but nothing is and I’ve had countless conversations with aspiring creatives telling me they feel hesitant to pursue what they enjoy. But is it possible? Absolutely. I pushed myself and went on a crazy ride of making art and designs which people were willing to pay for (I’ll share my different creative business ventures another day along with the lessons I learnt). And now, years later here I am. Still growing and doing what I’ve enjoyed doing since I was a lil boy who hadn’t even started school yet.

I know some of you might be reading this and think that it’s too late to pursue your creative passion, but trust me it’s never too late to start. And you’ll never know unless you try. Sometimes that’s all it takes to set you on your way.

You got this.

In summary:

🔥 Find your creative passion and work on it.

🔊 Make some noise about it. You can’t expect recognition if you’re hiding what you do.

💰 Don’t hesitate to put a price on it. Even if it’s something small to begin with.

⌛ Be patient. I can’t express this enough. It’s not going to happen overnight and it took me over 10 years of being a creative to figure out how to monetize it.

🤲🏽 And most importantly, don’t neglect your faith.

And if you’re feeling a bit stuck, feel free to shoot me a message on @SameePanda and I’ll be happy to provide some help!

Have a good weekend, stay warm and asalaamu alaikum ✌🏽

Samee 🐼

P.S. I'll be writing every two weeks now

P.P.S I spoke about some of this in this podcast.