Cheeming Boey - Whatever It Takes

Last Thursday we attended Cheeming Boey's talk in which he told us his experience from studying in America to landing a job at Blizzard. To be honest, I had no idea who he was until we we're told that he is the author/illustrator of the book series, 'When I Was a Kid'. I have always seen his books in stores but never took a look at them because I thought that it was more of a children's book like 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' or 'Dork Diaries'. I'm not quite sure what I had expected before coming into the talk but I ended up enjoying myself while I was there. Most book talks I attended were quite boring and never really interested me but maybe it's because those authors were much older and perhaps they didn't really know how to engage with a younger audience. Or maybe it's because I'm old now and actually enjoy these type of things🤔.

His 'whatever it takes' motto is something I would like to implement into future things I do. It is somewhat encouraging and makes me feel like I can always push myself forward no matter what. I feel like many people are afraid to step out and do something that not many people would do. Especially if it involves your career.

had a small conversation with Boey

When he started to talk about his father growing up during the war reminded me of my grandparents when they went to British run schools (i started to get a little emotional and felt like crying).

I love the fact that there is always something we can relate to in his books and the fact that we all somehow have had similar childhood experiences makes it even better. I've always liked sharing my childhood experiences even though it wasn't as crazy as finding pee in my water bottle but it's fun to see how people grew up and the kind of things they did.

For some time, I have thought about opening up a little IG store to sell some prints, pins and what not but have always pushed it aside. I'm always designing little cards or illustrations for friends as gifts but sometimes I feel like my art isn't good enough or that people wouldn't be interested in purchasing anything but I'll never know unless I try. If I do end up starting up a shop I definitely will do 'whatever it takes' to get to where I want to be.