Upon having to write this, I sat down and thought of the things that have inspired the person I am – my goals, my ambitions, but also my art. In this, my mind drew back to the stories I lost myself in when I was a child – the fictional world of books and movies, cartoons and video games that reeled me in with eager lines that I never let go, and proved to be a constant source of inspiration I kept returning to.

It was always easy to see myself drawn to the world of fiction. At times, I was more in love with it, more attuned to it than I was to the real world. I would exist in a daze, absentmindedly dreaming of magic castles, supernatural creatures and glorious escapades as I went about my daily life, eager for the next moment I could once again delve into the realm of the fantastical – the wondrous land where the constraints of reality ceased to exist, at least for a little while.

Ultimately, perhaps inevitably, my love for stories has pushed me to want to create some of my own, my art serving as the medium of expression. I want to work in video games, movies, and animation, creating work that may hopefully brighten someone’s day and that can touch them in a way that goes beyond the fiction. I want to create stories through my art that means something to someone, the same way my favorite stories meant the world to me. I want to connect with characters and places they’ve never and can never meet, but paradoxically, also have these characters move off the page and become as tangible as the reality surrounding us. To uncover worlds and universes, full of promise and stories just waiting to be told. That is not to say that I truly believe that there is a wizarding community hiding somewhere in Britain or in superheroes waiting to save the day, but for a little while, isn’t it just fascinating to think so?