We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hadir a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hadir, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

I think the first dollar, or in my case euro, earned was when I decided to participate at a small convention in the city I live in. I didn’t know what I should bring with me as a vendor and I didn’t want to put in a lot of money, as at that time I was only a student.

So what I created was a few buttons and small originals, called ACEO cards.
One customer actually bought one of the buttons, and I was surprised someone would buy my creations, but it gave me a good boost and confidence to maybe pursue this path.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Heya there, for those who don’t know me I work under my alias Nuya in Austria. Most people who pursue art start drawing at a young age, this was also the case for me, but for a long time in my teen years I didn’t draw as much as nowadays.
I seriously started my artist journey about 14 years ago, when I had my first booth at a local convention, that’s when I decided I want to do it more often and show people what I create.

I started with simple prints, or smaller artworks which were then sold as postcards or posters. When I was able to afford it, I was able to get acrylic charms made with my designs and so I started designing merchandise, was it fanart or original I always tried what I could and hoped for the best outcome, when I wan’t satisfied with my art, I wouldn’t let it get print or tried to fix it until I liked the outcome, this was sadly often the case that the outcome didn’t turn out as good as I hoped, but it helped me with my learning process.

A few years and a few booths at conventions later, I wanted to try new things. For a few months my interests were crocheting, the next few I made jewelry out of clay, I sew a few thing, started making charms out of resin, all that was much fun, and things I loved to learn and for the most part am still able to do, but my interest for them didn’t last long enough to sell them or make an income with it.
I always got back to drawing and getting merchandise produced.

A year before the pandemic hit, I decided that I want to get an embroidery machine, wasn’t an easy decision tho, because even the cheapest machine is really expensive. After long thought I did get a machine, and started learning how to embroider apparel. I t was a slow learning process as I didn’t always had the time because of my full time job, or was straight out lazy.

While basically the whole world was in lock down, I was (luckily) employed in a job that required local attendance, so me using more time at home to learn was not an option, but seeing so many artist around the world building their business while in lock down, motivated me so much, I started to think about how I could start a small side hustle beside my full time job.

Not that I have a successful side business, but I am happy that I got myself motivated to start doing things again, after what felt like an eternity not drawing or doing anything creative.
So when convention were allowed again, and I had a booth at a local convention, I tried my best to create new art and have a few embroidered shirts with me.
And that’s what happened. I had new charms and shirts with me, and people did buy so much from me that it made me so happy and so proud of myself, it gave me such a confidence boost to try more! This was back in 2022.

2023 I tried my very first international convention as a vendor, and got so much positive feedback for my embroidered beanies, that is now a main seller when I’m exhibiting. Although I do see that the beanies do sell very well, I still want to design charms and stickers, although I make them lesser I still want to have a few things where I still draw, because that is the one thing I always got back to.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There is one particular event I remember that destroyed me, and nearly made me quit art all together. I was in a school that specialized in art (beside the “normal” school activities). My skills weren’t as developed as they are now, but as one would imagine, you go to such school to refine your skills and learn new things. At the end of my first year I had an art exam, and well it didn’t end well, but what really hurt me the most was, my Prof. telling me I don’t have any artistic talent.
As you can imagine this was really hard for me to swallow and my confidence wasn’t big then. I wanted to leave this school and start at a “normal” high school, but it was not easy for me to switch so I was stuck at this school, with so much anxiety thanks to this one Prof. Luckily he did not teach me for the years following, but his damage was done, it took me several years to overcome my anxiety, and start crying when someone criticized my art.

This things don’t bother me anymore, when someone doesn’t like my art or style they are free to think that way and not look at it anymore!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The feedback I get from family, friends and customers. Be it them telling me they like my art, or how awesome something turned out feels so good and rewarding, I feel appreciated and that people genuinely like my ideas and products.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/0nuya0/
• Other: The site I post my embroideries: https://www.instagram.com/frootingstar/