Arsenio Jr Nidoy scribbling a portrait in his studio
Doha: Using scribbles, a Filipino artist in Qatar has made one portrait every day in 2021 as part of his 365-day art challenge. With a pen as his tool, Arsenio Jr Nidoy, also known as "Artsenic", used variations of chaotic lines to create realistic images of well-known personalities without missing a single day.
Speaking to The Peninsula about what made him venture into this, Arsenio said: "I guess what really urged me to do this challenge is that I was unsatisfied with my art results."
He further said: "Though I already know how to draw since I was a child, I still needed a lot of improvement."
Before Arsenio discovered the art of scribbling, his style and medium revolved around creating realistic portraits using graphite pencil. Purely by chance, he came across the works of renowned artists Erick Centeno and Vince Low which led to his fascination for scribble art.
Due to unfamiliarity with the art style and a day job to attend, Arsenio used to take more than five hours to complete one portrait. As time passed by, his skills sharpened and he was able to finish an artwork in three hours.
Talking about his creative process, he told The Peninsula: "I do my scribbling in freehand, I avoid using grids and I do not use pencil for layouting. Instead, I draw directly with a ballpoint pen to prevent me from depending on guides and pencil erasures."
"With this process, it helps me improve my speed but without compromising the accuracy of my output," he added.
To date, Arsenio has a prolific portfolio of hundreds of scribbled portraits of prominent personalities from different fields of life.
In a post on Instagram, Arsenio also shared a portrait of The Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
His other works include portraits of legendary musicians such as Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, Nirvana, and The Beatles, as well as some sports icons including Lionel Messi, Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Hidilyn Diaz, and countless distinguished figures from various fields.
In choosing a subject for his art pieces, Arsenio stated that he is keen on drawing "portraits of famous celebrities and artists especially those with good facial expression."
Dominantly using single colours for his artworks, he selects subject references with high contrast and good lighting to allow him to experiment from dark to light tones while incorporating realistic and chaotic scribbles.
Apart from this, Arsenio also draws inspiration from the hottest trend in the entertainment industry such as Netflix's biggest original series, "Squid Game", as well as members of renowned K-pop groups, BTS and Black Pink. On days when options have run out, Arsenio also welcomes requests from his social media followers and acquaintances.
Having completed 365 portraits, the 43-year-old self-taught artist has come far in reaching his goal despite experiencing inevitable hurdles.
Recounting his journey, Arsenio highlighted some of the challenges he faced last year.
He said: "Like all other challenges, I too had my share of difficulties while trying to complete it. I was hit by Covid-19 in March last year, but it did not stop me from scribbling even when I was at the quarantine facility."
Apart from this, Arsenio was also involved in an accident which fractured his collarbone and rendered his arm almost paralyzed.
With all the hurdles he came up against, the Filipino artist remained headstrong on his mission and did not allow himself to be held back from pursuing the 365-day art challenge.
Hand in hand with difficulties are lessons learned from the one-year challenge. He highlighted the value of time and patience as key takeaways.
"I learned how to allocate my time wisely. Spending 3 hours per night when you are working during the day is quite exhausting," he said.
"I realized that there is no such thing as ‘so difficult’ when you constantly practice," he added.
Being heavily exposed to social media and public opinions, Arsenio admitted that he is not a stranger to criticism. Throughout the 365-day challenge he also learned how to deal with judgements.
He said: "At first they irked me but now I consider them as spices in my journey."
Speaking about the success in completing 365 portraits, Arsenio said: "I feel proud and fulfilled because this challenge took a lot of my time and energy and tested my patience several times."
"There was never a moment that I decided to quit despite all the health problems, setbacks and complications that I experienced last year. It was not easy, yet I managed to pull-through. I am a survivor!," he enthusiastically said.
Arsenio Jr Nidoy's 365th self-portrait
Arsenio documented his entire art journey on his social media account with photos and videos of finished artworks and behind-the-scenes. On Friday, December 31, 2021, he marked the end of the challenge with a memorable portrait of himself and a new member of his family.
In a post on Instagram, he said: "Friends, here is the 365th of my 365 Days Art Challenge! #ididit Myself and Bullet."
While the post marked the end of his art challenge, a new year of beginnings has unfolded for the 43-year-old artist as he looks forward to having a solo exhibition someday and make a book inspired by his 365 days art journey.
