Making a business out of painting animes on everyday objects
She grew up in an era where anime and animation were a big trend and artist Taif al Daroushi has used both her passion for anime and creating art. Taif is a general nursing student that took digital art as a hobby to occupy her spare time. Growing up watching anime, she’s quite fascinated as to how these characters not just exude life but are a joy to a lot of people her age. She realised that there are not a lot of artists in Oman that do this kind of thing so she decided to put her love for art and anime into one business combo.
In 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, Taif decided to embark on a business journey where she drew animated characters and convert them into digital art and eventually printed them as stickers to be used by students and other anime-loving individuals into everyday items.
“I drew my first digital drawing because of a request from my cousin who asked me to draw the Suri traditional dress on a character. The result was interesting since it was my first experience. After a series of failed attempts, I finally landed an art that I loved. From here, the idea of creating my private business account began to paint and sell stickers,” Taif said.
Accuracy in the drawing is the most important for Taif. Especially since digital drawing needs more focus and dedication. Due to the lack of an electronic pen for drawing, she tried making them with her finger despite the many challenges these poses.
“The benefits of a painting by finger help me to relax and increase my focus. Psychologically, it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment and pride but it was fun,” Taif said.
“I draw with my mobile phone using “ibis paint x” drawing program. For the specifications, I prefer a widescreen phone so that I can draw more freely,” she added.
Painting strengthens Taif’s personality in terms of attention and focus. She became more competitive to focus on her own style of drawing because she is surrounded by many competitors in this field (digital drawing and distributions).
Taif paints on paper cups as well. She said, “I saw the idea on Instagram accounts and decided to implement it in my own way, as well as after my parents encouraged me.”
She paints cups with watercolour and the drawing depends on the customer’s request. The difficulty that she faces during painting is the curvature of the cup since it is not as flat as paper, which makes it difficult to draw on it. Also drawing some orders that she’s never drawn before makes it a little tricky to implement.
“I can say the art of painting on cups is almost suitable as a home project for every painter if he/ she tries and starts in this field, it may stumble at first, or the turnout may be almost non-existent, but with training, determination and perseverance, this project can become something you enjoy, love, innovate and earn something from it, even if it is simple,” she shared.*