I could always feel creativity whirling around inside me. When I was young, it would be expressed through short stories and drawings of monsters, haunted houses, planetary invasions and such. Throughout elementary and middle school, I was writing and sketching all sorts of fictional scenes and characters. This energy gradually faded, however, and by high school the creative ember was all but extinguished.

Limbo held me for a long time. From 2006 to 2021, there was barely a heartbeat of creativity within me. On rare occasion, I would feel its faint pulse and do some story writing, while daydreaming about living a creative life.

I still felt my imagination and creativity slowly churning, but I lacked motivation and confidence. It felt almost like a pebble in my shoe I couldn’t get rid of. Maybe I could become a professional writer or filmmaker, I thought. Dreams do feel unattainable, though, if all you do is dream about them.

Late 2020, I move back to my hometown of Portland, OR after living in New Orleans for a few years. Still no art; no hobbies at all. Living a creative life was a dream on death’s door.

Finally, in October of 2021, I decide I want some tattoos. I don’t like any classic designs, and think to myself, ‘why don’t I just design my own tattoos?’

That single thought would completely change the trajectory of my life. I suddenly found myself drawing potential tattoo designs, and then just sketching for hours. Almost instantaneously discovering a style of dark, surrealistic portraiture, I quickly learned how to apply my imagination, which was turning into a visual feast. I was all at once exploding with energy and ideas - a massive release of pressure in my brain after neglecting my creativity for all those years.

After 2-3 weeks of obsessively sketching every day for hours, I felt like I needed something more. I had no idea how to paint, or anything about technique, color, composition. I knew nothing. All I had was my imagination, a newfound, indescribable love for making art and a searing determination to make something of myself. I started painting and quite literally couldn’t stop.

My life quickly fell apart, as everything suddenly felt inconsequential in comparison to making art. The obsession was so strong, it compressed everything in my life down to a bare minimum so I could maximize my creative output. I was hardly sleeping, hardly eating, hardly socializing; contorting myself for days as a frantically painted as much as humanly possible. I would paint for 5 hours, 10 hours, 15 hours - until my fingers would start swelling and my wrist would ache painfully. Not to mention countless other unhealthy habits that developed and personal relationships that crumbled.

I loved painting so much, I unconsciously and insidiously sacrificed almost everything in my life for it. I put myself in urgent care, not once, but TWICE due to the sheer amount of hours I was practicing.

On the eve of my 30th birthday, after 30 months and well over 3,000 hours of self-taught practice, I was barely clinging to my health and general wellbeing. I knew I would never live to see old age if I continued a lifestyle hellbent on creating. I needed to shift my focus before I continued to fall further down the rabbit hole.

By then, I realized beyond a shadow of a doubt I wanted to become a professional artist. Despite the physical and mental toll from the previous two and a half years, my style and technique had dramatically improved.

So, in March 2024, right as I turned 30 years old, I made some serious lifestyle changes, cutting many of my vices and deciding to focus on splitting my energy between art and business. After working in education for over a decade, I knew exactly what I wanted my art business to stand for.

Creativity has been waning in younger generations, due, in large, to lack of knowledge, access, budget, priority and the prevalence of technology. However, when I speak to others - especially kids and young adults - about my art and they see my passion for it, they often reciprocate those feelings. Thus, I started NIGHTZUU with the hopes of making art, creativity and self-expression more accessible for younger generations, and those who simply don’t have exposure to it. This is one of the small ways I am confident I can make a difference in the world.

Much of my artistic inspiration comes from my own crazy imagination, art books, retro and international aesthetics, other visual mediums (movies, anime, graphic novels, photography) and of course work from other contemporary artists.

I still paint for hours every day, but now I am also working to create a foundation for NIGHTZUU to grow and by extension, a platform through which I can inspire and encourage others to pursue creative endeavors, professionally or just for fun.

I am forever in debt to my discovery of art.

- AA. Orellana