Osheen is drawn to illustration like a moth to a flame

Osheen has followed a love for illustration to CDU where he is studying a Certificate IV in Visual Arts in the hopes of becoming a professional comic artist.

Like many children, Osheen spent a lot of time drawing.

“I started properly drawing and getting interested in art when I was in Year 4, when I started making my own characters and drawing them.”

Unlike most children, however, Osheen’s interest in drawing would morph into a true passion for illustration.

By the time he was nearing the end of high school, his pathway became clear.

“I decided to branch out and start my Certificate IV in Visual Arts,” he says.

“Year 12 just wasn’t for me, and I’d known for years that I wanted to be an artist.”

Creativity outside the comfort zone

Osheen finds constant inspiration in his studies as he spends classes exploring different artistic styles and encountering professional artists.

“Getting to experiment with different types of art and mediums like automatic drawing, charcoal, different scale artworks and particularly risographic printing has shown me how versatile my art can be and has allowed me to work specifically on colours and how they interact with each other.”

He has loved using the “amazing risograph machine on campus”, the only one of its kind in the Northern Territory, and having his work showcased at the RISO REMIX event for the 2023 Darwin Festival.

Unique opportunities like this are all part of the CDU creative arts student experience—an experience which Osheen recommends to any budding artists hoping to hone their craft.

I think it’s great to study visual arts if you want to be a professional artist because of how it exposes you to a wild variety of different practices and can push you out of your comfort zone into something that you might find really inspiring and want to add to your own arts practice.

“It’s great being around other creatives in the classroom,” he adds.

“We all have our own art preferences and styles but we’re still able to give advice to each other and communicate our ideas about the others’ works.”

The next page

The Certificate IV in Visual Arts is shaping and finessing his talent as Osheen works towards a dream career as a comic artist.

“I adore the medium and how expressive it can make still images,” he says.

CDU and the course I’m taking are helping me shape and expand my art by exposing me to different styles and techniques that are greatly helping me decide my path and what I want to do in the future.

“Make sure to choose something you’re very passionate or interested in so you don’t lose focus,” he advises future students. “It could lead to a bunch of new paths opening for you.”

As he continues to progress and hone his creative practice with CDU, Osheen’s “inescapable urge to show the world my stories” is sure to turn heads—and comic book pages—in the future.

Explore and expand your creativity with a hands-on visual arts course at CDU TAFE.