Beside being a freelance digital artist, I’m also a content creator in the online space. At some point I decided to take on the mantle of a “masked artist” and gave myself a cartoon persona in order to tell my story through my art. Here you can get up to speed on the Journey of “Taha the Artist”. Let’s begin way before I even called myself by my own name, which is to say; back before it wasn’t me on my own…
It began with a collaboration among friends
Although I did start posting art online far before my friends and I formed the “ButtonMasher Crew”, it wasn’t until this collaboration did I start to take the stage seriously. This is when I first created my persona (Back then I went by the alias “Munchkin-T”) and ever since, the mask has stayed on. We had a podcast and a channel with video game/ TV-film related content. We were doing pretty much what everyone who tried to be content creators did back in 2015 and it was certainly a fun time. Sadly, other members of the group had to leave our online gathering in order to deal with the pressures of the offline world leaving two remaining BM members to keep the ship afloat. It was soon after that that we went for a name change…
The transition into being purely a "let's play" gaming channel was as smooth as fresh milk. Named after a show helmed by myself and Jonny "SoapDuds" Rivera, we carried the channel forward just simply playing games while conversing, screaming and laughing all the way. It was a lot of fun but sadly, even that had to come to an end when Jonny decided in early 2017 to respectfully leave the collaboration.
Everything comes to an end, even great partnerships like this.
And now it was the job of the last remaining member of the BM-turned-TeaDuds Crew to leave it behind and make his own way forward…
And at some point you’ve gotta shed the childhood nicknames and realise who you really are…
Ok, I’ll level with you: the whole “internet artist” gig had a rocky start. I tried a "let's draw" video series called "Taha Draws" that pushed my run down computer to the edge. Files got corrupted, programs crashed and I got to about 3 videos in the series before I started to rethink this whole thing. But on the other side of the stage; on my instagram; nearing the end of 2017; an internet-wide, month-long art challenge was about to start and it was going to change me forever…
Ready…
… Set …
…DRAW!
For those not in the know: "Inktober" is a month long art challenge in October each year where artists around the world each make one art piece a day and post their work online. There’s an offical art prompts list and an “Ink style/theme” that is encouraged but not mandatory to follow. It’s harder than it sounds and it’s all for the love of the game.
The struggle to constantly be on your toes and fight through art block pretty much every day and pumping out artwork that you’re happy enough with to show anyone was a real slog at times…
…but as a result of that hardship you grow as an artist, and perhaps even more so; as a person…
…and by the end of the race, It had felt like I’d become a different person.
And in the aftermath…
I announced a break from posting art online with the promise of returning. It seemed at this point that my presence as a creative in the online space was growing steadily and once I came back from my rest, I was raring to burst through this artistic journey in full force.
But then something a little unexpected happened…
I went missing
“Gone” – The Return Part 1
The Search
Ok let me break the magic for a moment here and say; I’m not actually missing, so don’t worry. I’m still at my desk, making a living doing art but the character; my online persona is (story-wise) missing. We’re playing out some theatre here in a bid to properly convey my artistic journey for an audience and in this dramatic turn of events; naturally; this is where YOU come in! Well… not, like, *you* you. More like…
"u"
the character "u" is a visual representation of the audience (you) and as a result is meant to be a blank slate for the viewer to basically see themselves as. At this point in the story, "T" (me) has been gone for too long and u has taken aboard the responsibility of finding him. And thus the search begins…
u in the "Instagram Gallery"
u visiting the "NovaLux Discord Cafe"
u on "Twitch Broadway" asking an "onion-themed internet personality" about T
u visiting the artist "BinOfTrash" and her people
u visiting "KingForte" (King), "MichiWrap" (Queen) and "PrincessLilyTheCorgi" (Beloved Princess)
u in "Twitter Square"
u visitng the "Giglets Discord Cafe" (run by "HuntersNova")
u visiting “Fox_Tea”
u talking to "The_Very_Last_Dinosaur"
“u’s adventure” Is my little fun way of keeping the show going while I’m still technically on an upload hiatus working on a dynamic “re-launch” of my brand behind the scenes. In each image (or set of images), u interacts with a new character (or band of characters) that represent other online creative personalities or events.
The fun part about this is I can make references to a host of online persona's I look up to, movements and memes while keeping true to the story being played out. At this point, u asks around about the Artist's wereabouts only to be met with confusion over who "Taha the Artist" even is. There are however a few personas who seem like they might know something…
This is a fellow internet Artist's (and friend's) persona who goes by "AsheryW". Naturally I wanted to bring in content creators that I know into this story so I played on the idea that they might know something about all of this that u doesn't and are maybe keeping it to themselves…
This character's from "Momichu", Another fellow creative and a lovely person
These two persona's were actually commissioned to me from the content creator "Sugarmist"
you can find more pics for them in the portfolio section
…just don’t tell u.
"The Search" is supposed to work as a build up to the second part of the animated short you saw earlier called "The Return". It's been a long wait and it may yet be more of that going forward.
During this hiatus, certain outside events were likely to morally force me to make a post or two about them. I just needed a way to fit those kinds of posts into the story…
This was a short comic dedicated to the BLM movement. I wanted to use my platform to attempt to do my part
This was my way of speaking out against the injustices in the world while still maintaining the task I was carrying out with this series
it may be a small gesture
but sometimes a small gesture is what's needed to let a group of people know that you stand with them against oppression…
(pause for effect) -->
…I dare say it won't be the last time you see me do something like this with my art either.
Back to a lighter subject matter: Somewhere along the way I had my official debut as a published illustrator. The children's book "Tales of Mini-Maryam" released and I needed some way of advertising the book on my socials without breaking the magic…
u takes a moment to think about this whole journey of looking for T, desperate to find clues to his wereabouts.
Within deep contemplation; u struggles to come to any real realisation of where to go next.
u thinks…
…but no hints seem to come to them.
u comes to a bit of a halt in their quest; having realised just how long it's been since Taha went on his "break". Filled with doubts if it's all even worth it; u takes a break, themselves.
