WELCOME TO MY
My Journey so far
2008
I was an average student who used to study a month before the exams and still only manage to get B or C grades in my subjects. If you’re wondering, accountancy was my favourite subject in school but my calculations are still upside down for me. This was also the year when I started college for graduation.
2009
This was the year when I finally realized that I don’t want to be just a degree holder, instead, I want to paint and just do Art. It was also the time when I was completely blank about how I wanted to pursue art so I dropped out of my college and started doing the job just so I can earn something to chase my dreams.
Hence, I joined an animation academy for 45 days under their summer course campaign and there I met this wonderful thing known as ‘Adobe Photoshop’ and we are still friends now. (Haha) I learned Photoshop very quickly and I was offered a job at the same animation Academy, without a second thought I grabbed the opportunity despite the pay being only very low but I felt content that I will be able to learn so many new things here.
2010
After around a year or so in the animation Academy, someone from a nearby design agency noticed my work and offered me a paid internship. I felt like my efforts of getting into the art industry is being paved and I said yes.
I feel that was the best decision I ever made because that internship offered me personal growth and new learnings with every new project. My role from being an intern soon changed to a full-time Graphic Designer and I started taking charge of individual clients' project
2015
After working for more than five years it was this year that I started a new job at a corporate real estate company as a creative designer and my role there was to take over the company’s branding and suggest and plan new ad campaigns. Although I worked there for about one and a half years or two, I am still good friends with the company’s CEO and will still share ideas and opportunities.
(Pattern from my first custom project)
2017
In all these years while I was identified as a Graphic designer, my search for art felt like fading away so I took a decision. I left my job, quit all my projects and went into the dark side of my reality. I asked myself these questions and my answer was never satisfactory to me. ( What am I doing?, Why I am doing this?, What are my goals?)
The feeling was very frustrating but I had to do something to pay my bills so out of the blue I started posting my artworks in society6 and cross-posted the mockups on LinkedIn and Behance. In August 2017 I got a message on LinkedIn from a fashion designer from New York, that she loved my work and wanted to know if I can design patterns for her.
Without knowing what is a pattern, I said yes and I was instantly filled with joy because this is what I wanted. I always wanted to paint and get paid for it, so I started learning everything about designing a pattern from all possible sources like YouTube and Google. That year I finally found what I wanted to do in my life. Although I was new to this still I was happy. Later this year I also sold my first Pattern on Patternbank and that was a whole different story.
(First pattern I sold on Patternbank)
(1st Artist Meetup)
2018
I decided to do something more valuable and want to share this newfound treasure of knowledge with many more people around me because the term ‘Surface Pattern Designer’ was still very new to me, so I started teaching and hosted a free artist meetups to educate more and more artists around me who were choosing different fields instead of doing art.
People loved this initiative and in just 2 years I hosted around 5th Meetup which started with 15 people and by the time we reached fifth, the strength turned out over hundred students. It was also the time when the world’s leading Graphic Tablet company Wacom collaborated with us and shared the stage to introduce the world of digital arts to traditional artists from the community.
(5th Artist Meetup)
2019
During this year my complete focus was on teaching, doing projects and creating patterns but God has planned something else for me. Back then I was not that much into Instagram and all instead I was more into LinkedIn behind Society6 and all.
One day I suddenly shared one of my random process videos on Instagram and it blew up with over 1000 views, I was shocked and surprised by how many people are loving this small process video. So I posted, again, and it blew up again with over 3000 views. The results were very addictive and my focus just shifted from teaching to creating content in the form of satisfying art process videos for Instagram. It was all new to me and I was enjoying all the love people are giving to me online. Soon I started getting a million views and people started reaching out to me for paid collaborations and opportunities.
(First Product from my shop)
2020
Everything was fine until Covid hit this year and everything sank. It was very clear that I can’t teach offline or host any offline meetups. At this point, I feel, that whatever happens, happens for a good reason and the thing that happened to me on my Instagram last year enlighten me that my place is not to teach to a limited number of people offline. I called it destiny and accepted that I have to share my learnings with the students across the world I kept on creating process videos and started taking online workshops.
In November 2020 I started my online stationery shop where I sold products featuring my most loved patterns. It was insane how many people showed their love and support for my shop. I received love from people across the world and I still sometimes feel that it’s a dream and I’m gonna wake up any minute now. Someone, please pinch me.
(Google Featured my design in their 2021 Calender)
2021
This year started as a dream. Google India reached out to me to feature my work in their yearly calendar 2021 and that too in January. See everything is destined, how my journey started in 2016 from a dark room and how I collaborated with Google in 2021. It is all about patience and practice. Alongside my Instagram career, I got a boost in my pattern projects also and I started getting more projects through Behance and LinkedIn.
This was also the year where I hosted most of my workshops and live classes and taught over a thousand students in these workshops. I also started travelling this year and my first official travel trip was when I spent over 20 days in North Sikkim and found the purpose of my life as Nikhat. I dream to explore the world one day but I’m starting slow.
(My first ever Himalayan Ride in Sikkim at 14,000 Fts)
2022
This year I plan to automate my business as a teacher and an entrepreneur so I can travel more and more and meet as many people as I can. I am working on creating at least one course for you all to learn new things at your own pace of time. I also plan to launch new and exciting products in my shop in the upcoming months. Alongside all my business plans, I dream to travel every two months which is happening quite well these days and if you are interested in knowing more about my travels click here.
Let's get Personal
If I have to say one word that describes me best, I'd choose 'Omnivert'. My personality switch depends on the situation most of the time. I avoid parties but love to hang out with friends. I start my day with a nice cup of coffee which gives me the energy to actually feel motivated enough to start my day.
Here's a quick 'This & That' for you to quickly know me personally.