Meet Yaiza Ahsen Deserio

We were lucky to catch up with Yaiza Ahsen Deserio recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Yaiza, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I’ve been drawing since I was a child, my friends, teachers and family always told me how beautiful my drawings were. But as I get older life had other plans for me and I ended working in a totally different field. But sometimes I still drew and posted my sketches and paintings online and random people told me the same: my paintings were beautiful and they really liked it.
So, 5 years ago, I was in a crossroads. I got my right hand severely injured, I’,m right-handed, and my job was getting difficult for me, even when my boss at that time told me they will find a new place for me in the company. It was a really hard time for me, I felt I was still young and that was unfair, and I was afraid that I couldn’t do what I love most: drawing.
But, I decided to give art another chance. Maybe, that injury was an oportunity to change my life, so I bought a watercolor set, some brushes and a sketchbook and I started to pain again. Fortunately, even though my hand hurt all the time, I could paint quite comfortably for many hours. I started to post my paintings more often online and soon I gained a lot of followers and random people around the world wanted to buy my art.
So, I think that’s the way I find my purpose in life. I think art always have been part of me, I just nedded the perfect time to went for it.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Right now, I’m fulltime freelance illustrator. I mostly work on my own projects and sell my art online and at conventions, but sometimes I also work from companies like Treecer (board games) and Riot (videogames).
I really enjoy the freedom of being a freelancer, and I’m really thankfully to my clients and everyone that support and buy my art worldwide because it allows me to paint what I like.
Right now I’m focusing in getting better at my art. I want to improve and paint better illustrations everyday.
And I just opened a new online store! I worked several months on it and I think it looks really good: https://thandaart.com/

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I would say it’s important to be humble, self-critical and persevering.
It’s important being humble becuase it will allow you to learn from others. Ego is the burden of many artists and entrepreneurs. I always will defend my work, but I know is not perfect and I think it’s important to listen to others.
Self-criticism is important because it is the only thing that allows us to improve. i know my flaws and the beggining of every year i do a list of the things I need to improve: my color skills, anatomy, the photos of my products,.. and that year I work hard to get better at those.
It’s important to be persistent because bad things will always happen, and it’s important to know how to overcome them. Being a freelancer you find many bumps in the road,sometimes those factors are beyond your control. , and other times you’re the person who is limiting yourself. Being able to face problems and continue working despite them seems extremely important to me to achieve your goals.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

To be honest, it’s finding enought time to paint and run my business. My store is doing really well so it took a me a lot of time everyday (preparing orders, answering emails from clients, keeping it updated)… so it’s being hard to find a balance.

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