My name is Wan Iliani.

 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. or Peace be upon you.

 

A little bit about me; I was born and raised in Selangor, Malaysia. Growing up as half Chinese and half Malay, I was blessed to be raised with much love and opportunities were abundant.

Two biggest influences in my passion for drawing were definitely Disney movies and Manga. It started off with Pocahontas, Mulan, The Little Mermaid and Tarzan. Then mangas like Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Detective Conan and Penyiasat Remaja Kindaichi came about. So did Pakar Judo (the mangas were translated to Malay language) and many more. And then came the anime series of Pokemon, Digimon, followed by Sailor Moon which was finally made into an anime.

 

Hence, my style of drawing is definitely within the manga scope. I also tend to draw immediately with a pen (main reason was me being lazy to do the pencil, pen, erase pencil, touch up procedure) and due to that, I find myself drawing at quite higher speed. I have tried to perform speed drawing three times in front of an audience so far; twice was for an event, once was in a classroom with my lecturer's permission, but I ended up disrupting his lecture because the students couldn't concentrate on him XD Good memories and experience! :)

 

I could not exactly remember the 'AHA' moment of when I started to draw or when I fell in love with drawing, but you could definitely see a lot of my drawings while I was younger (perhaps in kindergarden or earlier) and even mini comics.

 

The main theme (if any) would always be love (I blame Disney movies on this one XD) and you could find a spiky-haired hero with a fish tail. (you can figure where those came from) There were also instances where you'll see a Pikachu helping a girl to walk through her life where she is the Moon Princess...

*yes, I feel embarassed when I look back at my imagination!*

 

Then local mangas and comics started to rise. I still remember reading Gempak and trying to send my drawings into their competitions :) Kaoru and Ben were my personal favourite as their style of drawing really caught my eye. Other artists like Zint also had very interesting comics and storyline. This was some time when I was in secondary school.

 

I knew that I would draw EVERYDAY. Without fail, I would fill empty spaces in my textbooks or scribble the tables (with pencil, don't worry) all in an effort to improve my skills or just because. Drawing was my getaway, and it wouldn't be incorrect for me to say that it is my safe space and where my imagination could roam free. I even had a tiny notebook in my pencil box (to reduce my rate of scribbling elsewhere).

 

I think I managed to at least keep 7 of those mini books, a few sketchbooks and comics as well.

 

Despite drawing everyday, I take my education very seriously. When it is time to study and do my homework, I would do it. This is definitely one of the reasons why the rate of drawing my comics is not exponential; my first ever 'Long' comic started when I was in standard 2 or 3, and it was only completed when I was in form 4, 7 exercise books later.

 

It was definitely interesting to see how my drawing skills changed in just that one comic :) There are also other comics that I have made but they all are still incomplete. Only a few 'short' comics (about 1 or 2 books only) have successfully been completed. And yes, they are not published anywhere. They are all but in my room or somewhere at home XD

 

I noticed that when I was doing my foundation and degree, my frequency of drawing decreased a lot. I no longer drew everyday. Hence I could also conclude that my drawing skills came to a halt or even deteriorated over the years. There are only a few times that when I really had the time and mood, I would pick up a pen or my iPad and start drawing.

 

During my university days, I came across a manga drawing competition and it was related to Islam. I decided to draw a comic about fasting and I got a complimentary placing, Alhamdulillah, all Praises to Allah :)

It was my first time drawing an 'Islamic' comic/manga, and also actually winning something haha. But it was also during my university years that I understood my own religion so much more, Alhamdulillah :)

 

Since then, it has been my new dream to commit my drawings and mangas for dakwah; to invite people to get to know more about Islam. I learned more and more about my own religion even during the process of producing such mangas. Hence, it is a two-way satisfaction in producing Islamic mangas :)

 

After graduating from Pennstate (Alhamdulillah :D) I had a few months of holidays before I started training for Teach For Malaysia, so I've decided to make my second Islamic manga. This time it was about war and racism. This manga was drawn using an app in my iPad for the first time. It was definitely an interesting challenge drawing using just your fingers (literally) but the result was certainly worth the effort and time.

 

Now with a full-time job as a teacher, I am committing my life and time for my kids (whom I really really love :) ). And yes, the more time I commit myself to other things, the less time I actually have for drawing. But insya-Allah, God-willing, He knows what is best for me :) And one day, I will make my dream come true, insya-Allah!

 

*you are more than welcome to read the few mangas I have on this website. I hope you will enjoy it :) Thank you so very much!

 

May Allah bless us all :) Amin!