Can Doodling Be A Profession? Alicia Shows You How!

Few of us are able to pursue our dreams and few are able to comprehend what they really want in life and even fewer would go for fulfilling their dreams in the field of art and design.

In such a scenario, we have a girl of 24 years, who is well, a house of talent, yes, but more than that she is a multitasking maven who has tried her hand at so many different avenues, only to find her realm of design, doodles and more at the end.

Yes, I am talking about Alicia Souza, now a common name in social media networking with more than 47,000 followers on Facebook.

As the budding artist with oodles of talent says it in her own words, “My art teacher told me that I would be wasting my life if I didn’t pick art because she saw how intrigued I was with the subject even if I didn’t want to get involved then”,

Alicia was not interested in pursuing her studies in the field of art and chose Commerce with Maths in her high school in Abu Dhabi, while her graduation was in Communication Design or Graphic Design in Melbourne, where she lived for five long years.

But, her final call for design only came as she was to choose between two careers: that of an illustrator and a part-time banker and this gifted illustrator and designer moved to Bangalore, India in 2010 to design her inspirations and her life with cartoons, random musings and doodles at Chumbak that took her places.

Well, now you know why she likes multitasking and chose varied sectors and fields that have practically no connection with each other! If you come to think of it, what can be the possible link between maths and graphic design or drawing and banking?

After her one year stint with Chumbak, Alicia is all set to lure the creative minds with her beautifully designed fridge magnets, coasters and notepads in her usual quirky style through her idea of Freelancing, apart from her humorous and cute blog posts and Facebook updates on festivals, trips, her priorities of life, her routines, the store, finished projects, upcoming events, new collaborations, et al.

While Chumbak is a merchandising outlet on different lifestyle products that cater to the Indians with designs based on Indian culture and heritage, Alicia’s doodles, range of products and her projects are random  as she “started off very small with things she could afford and that were easy to manufacture.” With absolutely no formal certification or training in art or design, Alicia found it the most challenging and daunting aspiration of hers to start off on her own, and yes she did face roadblocks with no money for quite a few months until she began creating her own range of products. She probably drew the inspiration from her daddy dearest who told her that “we should do something we love”, even though she believes he said that out of his dislike for his job. But, yes as she claims, “there isn’t just one source, the entire world is my source of inspiration.” (as reported to yourstory.com)

Her askew ways and lopsided angles of defining life, her career, her interests, agendas and of course, herself are the qualities that actually describe her. She can sometimes be obsessive about cooking or set washing hair as her priority or listen to country music for recreation! That is probably the reason she enjoyed banking because she got the chance to interact with customers, and even aspired to become a wrestler or a veterinarian as a child, or pursue maths or rather become a soldier! Well, after this, hers could be called a life of wonders!

The lucky mistake, as she likes to call herself, Alicia feels chocolate and coffee are her biggest strengths  when it comes to managing the entire store operations, be it logistics, marketing or design single-handedly and working  with publishers and sometimes, ad agencies. Though her fame has now brought her an access to several investors, she does not want to limit herself to “small numbers”.

Well, as they say, ‘when you dream high, sky is the limit’.

Alicia’s whole life is explained in a doodle that she has very aptly created, yet in a quirky fashion. Creative as a child, she made a trolley truck by tying a box to a skateboard and was also known as the ‘largest sticker collector’ in her yesteryears. As you might have guessed, she drew for school magazines and boards, and had the perfect artist image with those nerdy glasses! The creative powerhouse also secured a top illustration student award when she was an intern at a branding company and is a fond animal lover being a guinea pig trainer and growing up two cute little dogs. While she had many laurels in her kitty with assignments for several corporates and launching great products under Chumbak, she is overjoyed with her exhibitions, daily marketing campaigns at Facebook and the comic con adventure. She was also a part of fair for handicrafts and handmade items in Bangalore in 2012 where she claimed that visitors don’t have the sole purpose of buying nice items in these craft bazaars, but also show interest in how they are being created.

This lovable daughter dedicates all her products and drawings to her parents, without whose tremendous support for her career choice, she believes she would have gone off the track.

Though Alicia still gets the surprising look and weird questions from the elder generation when she tells them that her way of living and even her livelihood is defined by drawing, she exclaims that “ it is a lifestyle that she has chosen over a mere job. She loves to live her career and is super happy that something she has with her to carry till the end, be it her prints or a product.”

Her personal projects apart from those that she gets paid for are cute, funny drawings that she lists on Facebook and the new things she learns like gardening, new languages, cooking, growing nails and petting, of course!

Isn’t it amazing to try everything under the sun and feel happy about getting to learn something each passing day and with every New Year? That way you do not have to make any New Year resolutions, each day would give you a new meaning and a fresh motivation!

Her future plans are starting her own online store and supporting animal shelters and adoption.

What are yours?