“Art as an Escape for Peace of Mind” @drawwchelle

Dear Diary,

Hi! My name is Rochelle Gracy, I’m 25 and I’m from Mumbai, India.

Personally, I’ve always been into art since I was a child. It started out as something I did to escape boring classes in school — just random doodling. I never really had any formal training; I’m completely self-taught. I experimented a lot with art styles. I realized that, as a STEM major, when things got really stressful at school and college, I could always use art as an escape for peace of mind.

There was a time where I completely gave up on making art because of college and the pressure of academics. I got into K-pop a few years ago, the band Stray Kids. Because of my excessive fangirl hyperfixation, I got into making portraits of the members again. Hyunjin of Stray Kids really inspired me to pursue art again as he is an artist himself. Looking at his artworks really motivates me to do art and become better at it.

Credit: Rochelle (Instagram @drawwchelle)

One of my most favourite pieces is a realistic portrait of Felix from Stray Kids. I didn’t believe in myself then that I could do something like that and it was a piece that took me out of my art block and made me realise my potential. It was one of my first artworks and it helped me look at myself in a better way and made me feel more confident about claiming myself as an artist. 

Credit: Rochelle (Instagram @drawwchelle)

My personal favourite material to work with is charcoal, even though it could get super messy it helps me bring life to my portraits. 

I believe that we’re surrounded by inspiration, but if I had to answer in particular something unexpected it would be when I had attended my first concert and I saw my muse — Hyunjin in the flesh. He was the reason I got back to art again.

Until then!

Rochelle