drawing a purpose

By Jennifer Contreras

Stress and pressure. These two words seem to ring so real for Antony Huynh.

Constant childhood bullying affected Huynh to the point that he became a bully himself. The pressure of an overbearing family to do well in school also led to overwhelming stress to do and be better.

From a young age, Huynh always felt immense pressure to meet his parent’s academic expectations of him, which in turn became the fear of failure. He says, “I was scared that I would turn it [homework] in late and not get a good grade, which would get me punished by my parents.”

In elementary school, Antony dealt with his own bullies, “There were these groups of kids that always kept bullying me saying I was fat, I’m an idiot, or I’m the lowest person in the class.” He later placed his internalized fear of failure and his distrust of others on his classmates, becoming someone he didn’t want to be.

“When I was about 11 to 13, I was quite an arrogant, mean, and ignorant person in school. I picked on others who had low grades, which pulled me down by a mile,” Huynh says. “My arrogant attitude was like extremely toxic… that attitude made almost nearly everyone hate me. It just felt miserable.”

Despite all this, Antony has found a way out through his artwork: “It’s made me feel a lot more positive, a lot more lively because I was able to let out some of my feelings through moving a pencil on paper.” Hardships during high school led him to seek art as an outlet for his thoughts, finding a safe space where he can express himself freely.

While in quarantine, Antony kept busy by working on his very first online comic book, reaching nearly 500 readers. “I’ve drawn so much that I was able to— I made my own comic online… I’m pretty proud of it, I mean it’s not much of a start but I’m pretty proud of it,” he says.

Several anime series such as One Punch Man, Gundam, and My Hero Academia, have paved the way for Antony’s art style and have been very influential for his storyline as well. Antony’s older brother also played a significant role in his development as an artist. Huynh says, “My half brother inspires me… he said that he enjoyed seeing my art and that it would be a huge waste of talent if I left it.” His brother’s words were an encouraging push for him to leave behind social and familial pressure to be someone he wasn’t.

After having struggled with bullying and constantly feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, Antony was finally able to surround himself with a solid group of people and find hobbies that allow him to be himself. Huynh says, “My freshman year I met these two seniors, John and Kenneth… over time we began to grow more and more attached to each other as friends and it kinda changed my personality into a more lively person.”