Through Pen and Paper - Hsulynn Oh
Like many toddlers, I was introduced to art at a young age through the means of pen and paper. To my parents, a notepad and pen was just their way of keeping me and my brothers occupied whenever we tagged along to their dinners with friends or to church events. Unbeknownst to them, they were stewarding a gift that was going to become a large part of my life.
The first time I saw someone draw a caricature was at Disneyland in LA. I was six-years-old and I couldn’t believe that someone could create lines that made such beautiful pictures! “How come none of my drawings looked like that?” I thought to myself. Thus began my days of drawing random people I saw at any of the functions my parents took me to, because I wanted to draw just as good as that Disneyland guy, and like all of the artists who illustrated the story books I read. Almost any of the free time I had was devoted to practicing how to get better at drawing, and I practiced on anything that my parents didn’t say I couldn’t draw on. This included every scrap paper, notebooks, school books, tables and even the walls in my bedroom.
As the years went by, I discovered that illustration was more than just a visual aid that accompanied the words of books, or merely something to be hung on the wall and admired for a while. It could tell stories too. It could say something that sometimes there are no words for. I discovered that through art God was showing me His creation.
Being a person that expressed myself creatively through art, I’ve often felt like I didn’t quite belong as I come from a family of doctors and computer programmers. I always felt misunderstood and out of place. When I was a kid, my favourite colours were blue and yellow. But in my head, only a very specific blue and yellow can go together. I loved this combination of colours so much that I wanted my parents to help me paint my room in those colours. I tried explaining this to my mom but even she couldn’t understand why the shades of blue and yellow had to be so specific. This frustrated me and made me feel even less understood.
Around the same time, my family and I went on a beach holiday. While the kids snorkelled, my dad went deep-sea diving and took some photos of creatures he saw during his dive to show us. Out of all the sea creatures that he showed us, the one I found most fascinating were these tiny things called a nudibranch and they were the exact shade of blue and yellow I loved! Right in that moment, I felt like God had created those creatures just to show me that He was the one who put the love of those specific colours in me. That was the first time I felt understood and loved by God through His creation.
When I became aware that the God who created me was an artist as well, I finally understood that I was reflecting my Father in heaven whenever I illustrate. This discovery gave me a new passion for storytelling through the illustrations I made, because I didn’t just want to create something for the sake of creating. I wanted to help people feel God’s love and what He really feels about them through the messages these illustrations carry.
While practicing my creativity, I was also learning how to listen to the voice of God. The more I created, the more I realised that a lot of the ideas that moved people around me were always the ones that popped up in my head while I was not intentionally thinking about it. When I finally understood that God was actually the real creator behind all the good ideas I thought were mine, I stopped striving for great ideas and started chasing after God ideas.
The more I knew God’s heart, the more I knew His voice. The more I knew His voice, the more I captured what He wanted to say.
I started asking God what He wanted to say through my hands first, before every empty piece of paper. This also challenged me to try and learn new things that would enhance my drawing skills. If I was going to create a God idea, I had to be ready with skills to match it. I’m constantly practicing to get better at illustrating and creating.
Being a freelance illustrator and children’s book artist, the majority of the people I work with don’t know who God is. But I believe that every piece of work I create for a client is the evidence of God I get to leave with them after a job is done. This isn’t just shown through the illustrations, but also through the way I write my emails and my work ethic. If I want God to speak through me, I have to be a vessel worthy enough to carry those words and art work. Over the years of working with all types of people from different companies, the best part of these opportunities is seeing art pieces that were created in my space of worship and seeking after God’s voice being used in places where God’s name is not known to many.
“And through his creative inspiration this Living Expression made all things, for nothing has existence apart from him! Life came into being because of him, for his life is light for all humanity. And this Living Expression is the Light that bursts through gloom- the Light that darkness could not diminish!” John 1:3-5 (TPT)
If God made all things and nothing has existence apart from Him, I want to be as close to Him as I can be so that everything I create can be light where darkness can not exist just because His breath is on it.
Written by Hsulynn Oh
Hsulynn Oh is an artist, author and mother to Harper. Together with her husband Sam, they lead the Young Adults and Youth Ministry at Kingdomcity in Kuala Lumpur.