My name is Tara, and I'm from India! I'm currently in my third year of animation at Srishti College, Bangalore, India. Growing up, I gravitated towards books, comics and cartoons. I was obsessed with stories, and I was fascinated by art. I loved to watched speedpaints on youtube. I've gone through many phases in my life, from wanting to be a cartoonist, fashion designer to illustrator, but it always involved art. Around the age of 16, I realized being an artist was a viable path for me, and there was no turning back. There is a lot of stigma here around fields that aren't STEM, and I would be taking a path nobody in my family had taken before. I was unsure how to navigate this field, but the internet exposed me to artists and designers that have impacted me immensely. I'm very thankful to artists that put up educational content on youtube, as I learnt most of my art fundamentals through them. My connection with the art community was primarily through the internet, but I wanted to experience it around me as well... I'm lucky to be living in Bangalore for all its art-related events, which I've been attending from my time at highschool. I'm interested in fan-culture as well, and I've tabled at events like Japan Habba and IndieComixFest to sell my art. Media I've consumed is a big inspiration for my art-- anime, cartoons and webcomics alike. I've recently taken to DND and podcasts as they are less visual and allow me to interpret the environments and character designs. Before drawing, my hobby was editing Anime music videos. Through youtube, I picked up After Effects as a tool, and I used to be an active participant in the Anime Music Video editing community through Multi-editor-projects and collaborations. I think this interest of mine has helped with my understanding of movement, camera and timing. I enjoy thinking of sequences that follow a rhythm, and am fascinated by film language and cinematography. Storytelling through composition is something I am coming to appreciate after realizing the impact shot choices have on our understanding of narrative, and the subtext they can create. Visual development also fascinates me a lot! I love how so much context can be communicated visually through props, backgrounds and characters, it can tell you about time, location, quality, etc. I think visual development plays an immense role in representation. As a person of colour, I have struggled to feel represented in the media I grew up admiring, so I'm very grateful for the upcoming content that is made by and for people like me! I think our cultures can create stunning imagery and make for variety, while telling impactful stories. So much worldbuilding can be done through visuals, and it creates an immersive experience. Similarly, I want to create content that helps queer people, people of different body types and of different ethnicities to feel represented. My idea of character design is to help people feel seen, to tell stories that people relate to, or find familiar. Overall, I want to figure out my place in this industry, and contribute to meaningful stories that help us move forward, like the ones that moved me.