Drawn to inspire

As a child, Gavin Aung Than loved drawing and doodling. For the longest time, he  even aspired to become a cartoonist. However, he studied graphic design and took up a corporate design gig as a trade off for a secure future. But this couldn’t satisfy his creativity and Gavin found solace in cartooning once again. Eight years later, he quit his job, sold his house and decided to “draw” a new path for himself.

“I was also producing two long-running comic strips without much success. I was miserable and wanted to do something different,” says Gavin. A self-confessed history buff, Gavin spent a lot of his time reading biographies and bookmarking inspirational quotes from historic figures. He also realised that users on social media often shared their favourite quotes. These factors led to his setting up Zen Pencils — the motivational-quote blog — in 2012. It has grown into an online phenomenon in the time since.  

He says, “I got the idea to base an entire website around these (inspiring) quotes and combine them with my cartooning to produce something new.” Today, he has thousands of visitors thronging his site, has published a book (Zen Pencils: Cartoon Quotes from Inspirational Folks), and will release a second collection this October.

Among the influences on Gavin in his growing up years was Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comics. The Calvin and Hobbes creator has been such an inspiration that Gavin credits Watterson as the sole reason for his pursuing cartooning as a career. In fact, Gavin has drawn the Bill Watterson comics on his blog to “pay homage to Calvin and Hobbes”. Chuck Jones and Hergé are other artistes who inspired Gavin’s approach to design.

Gavin tells us, “Bill Watterson and Carl Sagan are two of my heroes, so I did spend more time coming up with the stories for those. The Bill Watterson story was based on my own life and the creation of Zen Pencils.” Among his other comic renderings, C.S Lewis’s To Love is to be Vulnerable and Carl’s Pale Blue Dot have received a lot of attention.

Gavin has also illustrated quotes by Benjamin Franklin, Confucius, Carl Sagan, Bill Watterson, the Dalai Lama, and even William Shakespeare. He admits that while there are some quotes that came easy for him, there were also times where he found it difficult to find a quote for his story-telling process. He says, “It can take weeks or sometimes months to finally come up with a good idea. If I’m struggling with one quote, I change and try working on a different one, or take a break, go for a walk and just think of something else. Often, when I go back to the problem, an idea will come.”

While his cartoons are light and an easy read, they do also deal with themes like spousal abuse, bullying and war. Gavin says, “A lot of the earlier comics were about following your passion and making the right career choice, but I’m trying to tackle more themes lately. Generally though, the comics are meant to be positive and fun.”

Gavin’s choices are a witness to the fact that with the right amount of determination and zeal, dreams are achievable, and every quest, conquerable. He says, “I didn’t know how successful Zen Pencils would turn out to be until I launched it. It was still a risk at the time I started it. Only after I didn’t have to go back to a ‘regular’ job did I realise that Zen Pencils was more than a hobby.”

One of his popular comics highlights the quote: “Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that.” Clearly, Gavin has followed that advice to the letter — and to great effect.