The women’s majlis: Inspiration can be found all around us

Keep practising and observing your surroundings, you never know what may inspire you, sometimes the litle things inspire us to think big.

One of my greatest passions is drawing. When I was young, I enjoyed doodling in my school books. As I grew older, I started to illustrate my own stories and characters. By the time I went to college, I had begun to improve my skills by practising daily, reading books and surfing the web.

In college, I specialised in graphic design. I wanted to use my illustration skills for designing publications. Design has helped me look into things on a wider scale. I started to design things more professionally and effectively. After graduation, I launched my personal website. Freelancing is very flexible and I enjoy working at home, where I can work whenever I’m in the mood.

Launching my website played a huge role in publicising my work; people saw my online portfolio and were interested in working with me. I believe that media forums helped me a lot in showcasing my work. Effortlessly fitting into the ‘working mother’ category, I found my journey a little difficult initially. It took me years to learn how to say “No, I think this is how it should be done,” to inexperienced clients. However, it now is more important for me to make sure that my clients are happy when I submit my work. The passion for design overpowered everything else and motivated me to keep trying and learning from these experiences.

Illustration is everywhere, that’s why I need to work hard to become better in what I do. It’s always not enough. I want to learn and explore more about illustration, think out of the box and become better at what I do. Drawing has given me the opportunity to explore new things. Observing my surroundings always inspires me. Practise sparks my creativity into drawing new concepts. I want to be an inspiration to kids, I want to create games and stories that help in teaching and inspiring children. But what I want most is to draw more Arabic children stories. I want to help in the teaching of our young ones. As a mother, I believe that kids learn by looking at things and observing. I want them to learn and enjoy reading. I want to make learning our language fun.

Stories play a huge role in the development of children. It helps in developing a child’s imagination and introducing new words and ideas into a child’s language. By looking at pictures, children learn about concepts such as shape, letters, animals, plants, objects and numbers. It also plays a part in building their confidence, understanding feelings and life. The more I read, the more I get inspired by new ideas and so do our young learners. I plan to continue and enjoy my work and hopefully work on more children’s stories in the future. And to all those little ones who want to become illustrators, I encourage them to believe in themselves. Keep practising and observing your surroundings, you never know what may inspire you, sometimes the little things inspire us to think big.

This week’s columnist is Shaima Al Malik, 29, an independent illustrator and graphic designer.

•If you’re an Emirati woman who has a good story to tell or an important issue to debate, please contact Shireena Al Nowais at [e-mail]