Christine Faye Chelabian

At one point in my life, I turned back from drawing to embrace the demands of work as a video editor and later on as a marketer in the publishing industry. I wrote manuscripts in the hopes of being published, but despite being inside the publishing industry, it got me nowhere. But, thanks to the nudging from people around me, when I embraced the fact that I can express myself best in visual arts, it did feel like breathing. I create art because I can best tell the stories my heart wants to say to the world.

My artworks' content and contexts have much to do with my culture and beliefs as a Bible-believer. Most of my works reflect Filipino culture as I intend them to be celebrated and attractive to the new generation, where many foreign influences tend to be more appealing. I draw and paint in the hopes that our generation will take pride in what's ours more than what's of our neighbors.

I am more of a graphic novelist than a painter. I make stories out of a series of drawings. My style is influenced by Japanese manga as that is what I grew up with, but many have commented that my art may have started there but has evolved into something truly Filipino, thankfully. As an artist, I tend to enjoy traditional art than digital as I love the smell of inks and the friction and reaction the inks make when brushed or penned on paper. It is a more challenging and expensive process but as we know, enjoying the process is just as important as a result.

When art is blocked or down, I head on to Instagram and watch videos of other artists or shift to another project until I have enough momentum to go back to my existing project. But the foolproof solution for me is to commit my projects to my Creator first and ask for His genius to help me achieve something more beautiful than what I alone can do.