My second digital drawing in life

My first post will not be about my dog Billy, of whom I made my first digital drawing (he lived 19 years!!!). It will be from Chihiro, who was the model for my second digital drawing, this one on the post.

About 5 years ago there was a pandemic that changed the lives of practically everyone in the world. Or at least of all those who were not isolated and that lived within a globalized society. It was so natural that sci-fi movies about global pandemics seemed more fiction than science.

It was called COVID-19.

Originated in China (or at least the first patients are known from there), COVID-19 shook us up quite a bit. Unemployed people (me), homeless people (almost me), and with the only certainty that no one knew what was going to happen.

The world was not going to end... But for many, life changed drastically, including us.

The father of my son exists... and as such, it exists. But in that time it disappeared.

Not having an income in addition to the job I had (and lost), with an autistic child and no one to take care of him —except me— and with daycare centers closed, my opportunities to work were practically reduced to zero. Fortunately, there were people who loved us and who gave us the opportunity to live in their home during the pandemic. First my mother for a while, and then one of my best friends.

She is the mother of a beautiful girl named Chihiro. Yes, Chihiro, like the protagonist of the movie. And even more beautiful and lovely. That little girl is adorable!

When we lived at my friend and her family's house I had a small Wacom tablet, the stylus that matched it and an old Mac computer (I swear it weighed like an entire planet hahaha), and since the day seemed to last 36 hours and the quarantine in Mexico lasted about 100 years, I decided to try drawing with that tablet.

It was so complex to draw on a surface that you weren't seeing directly. Trial and error. Trial and error.

That was my day.

The good thing? I was so entertained that I didn't have time for snacks between meals.

The bad? I wanted so much the income that could let me buy something simpler.

I loved drawing since I was a child. But as I grew up and drew, I accumulated too much baggage with all my papers and drawings. And when I started working I gradually stopped drawing.

In northern Mexico, we usually work about 50 hours for 6 days a week... sometimes more (depends on how abusive your boss is).

So the drawing was paused for a long time. Until I took it up... digitally. And that's when the second drawing appeared.

Spirited away.

This drawing represents the daughter of one of my best friends as I said, my friend printed it on a T-shirt for her daughter’s birthday, and there's also a poster of the same drawing in her room.

Every time I think of that drawing I remember those days. My son and I will be eternally grateful to them for all the love and support they have always given us, but especially during the pandemic.

So for me, that drawing is not just a drawing.

It is a memory of our days with them.

Because sometimes a drawing doesn't just capture an image... Capture a moment in your life that you never want to forget and the people you shared your time with in those moments too.

VR

03-16-26