KIDS Student’s Story: Izzul and His Japan Inspired Arts

07 January 2022

Izzul, one of the sponsored students in KIDS Scholarship Program, a scholarship program for the bomb victims’ children, is interested in Japanese-themed visual arts. Since he was young, he draws Japanese-style drawings. He developed his interest and now his hobby takes him to another level. He was a member of a students’ unit that have the same interest in Japanese Culture. He then started joining competitions.

“Since I was in Elementary School, I was interested in Japanese culture, especially in their Anime and Manga. I started drawing the manga-style comic. After a few years, I started creating my OC (original character) and developing them. I often use the photocopy paper my brother got from YKIP to practice my drawing. I used reams of HVS paper back then” Izzul recalls his memory.

Joining Digital Art Competition

After years of drawing the manga character on paper, Izzul was then introduced to digital art on his campus. He then asked his mother to buy him a device to draw manga characters digitally. With the device on hand, Izzul is able to improve his ability in creating digital arts. Not only he is able to join some competitions on campus and outside, but he also gets some freelance jobs. He got third place in a comic strip competition on his campus. His biggest achievement was third place in Nikeba Matsuri Event, held by Bali State Polytechnic with participants from all over Bali.

“I was heard the mascot design competition on Nikeba Matsuri by my friends in our student association. I thought it was a good opportunity, but at first, I was hesitant, as I have some job to do and the deadline was near the event’s date. My friend encouraged me to join and they said they have prepared everything including the admission fee, I then join the competition. I was not really prepared, in fact, I only have one night to design the mascot. To my surprise, the mascot I designed was selected with five other participants’. I was then invited to Bali Polytechnic to attend the final round. I didn’t expect to be in the top three, as I was not really prepared for that. I was extremely happy when the judges announced that I got the third place.”

Izul is now in his seventh semester and has just finished his job training. Izzul is preparing for his final assignment and he plans to make an android based game that can be also used to learn history. Sounds interesting!

YKIP wishes all the best for Izzul studies and looking forward to seeing him graduate and develop his interest in developing games with educational content.