Little Things 296: Cats Pay the Bills

So, KLIF.

Heard there’s been a lot of chatter on Threads about the “creative industry” — complaints about too many cats, too much cutesy stuff, lack of originality, same ol' same ol'. Let me share a little perspective, as someone who’s been in this game for over 15 years, and has joined 50+ creative and indie events along the way.

We sell what sells.

At the end of the day, it's about what moves. And guess what? Cute sells like hot cakes. That doesn’t mean we can’t draw other things — it means we’ve learned how to survive in a market that often doesn’t reward experimentation or risk.

No point setting up a booth full of your deep, original art if no one buys anything and you end the day broke and burnt out. Syok sendiri, but starving. Artist kan? We have our thing.

So yeah — cats, cutesy, relatable. They work. They feed us. Literally.

If you walk into a creative event and start criticizing people’s work out loud, that’s your issue — not the artists’, not the industry’s.If you’re truly curious about what we really draw, ask to see our sketchbooks. You’ll be surprised. We all have our personal styles, our experimental pieces, our weird obsessions. But we’re also our harshest critics – we usually keep them.

So we choose to draw what sells. What clicks. What keeps us going.

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Suka-suka je datang, pastu complain apa orang jual. If you don’t like it — hey, no one’s stopping you from making your own stuff. Go ahead, join the next event. See how it feels. I don’t join events as a vendor anymore, but I still show up — always. I show up for my people because I know what it takes.

We’re putting our work out there, for strangers to judge, ignore, or (hopefully) appreciate. That kind of vulnerability? Not everyone can handle it. It takes guts. And I’m super proud of my people for doing it anyway. Good job, KLIF ❤︎❤︎❤︎

Little Stories 282 : KLIF for the Second Time

On Saturday, I was supposed to go to the library again to return the books and get new ones. But on the way there while on the train, my tiny heart said that it was closed that day, so I checked on Google and I found out that it was closed (the first Saturday of the month). The instinct was right.

So I had to change my plan. I was contemplating whether I should go to find huge mahjong papers at the art store and a big brush to do painting exercises OR to go to KLIF which was held that weekend at GMBB. I was not mentally prepared to deal with the crowd, and it was a bit overwhelming to go there alone. But, I'm making an effort, right.

I chose to only have the goal of going to KLIF and improvise the plan from there. From MRT Bukit Bintang, I turned on my Moovit and followed the walking path (less than a 15-minute walk). But BB paths were sketchy, and I wasn't familiar with the new paths but I managed it somehow. I did the scariest part of walking in the BB area unattended, and I am so proud of that achievement. 

Next was buying the walk-in ticket for RM 15, and I did that too. Then I explored the 3 levels of the KLIF event twice, the crowd was a bit crazy, so sometimes I wore the mask, and sometimes I opened it because lemassss. I didn't stop at every booth, and when I felt too overwhelmed to make a conversation, I just chose to distance myself and watched from afar. It was like my personal social experiment, where I tested what level of discomfort I could manage in the said situation. 

Then I also tested, I greeted some people that I recognized, it was a struggle to keep a conversation with K from B&B because I think we are both introverts but I stayed the course and stayed until I didn't know what else to say, then I decided to say hi to LT (we both knew each other online), she was super excited and she naturally has great-people energy so that was super helpful and last one was Aa from SxP, we knew each other for years so that was okay as well. He has a good friendly vibe.

They asked me why I didn't participate (no KLIF, CAFKL, or CF since last year) - and I said that I needed some time to rest and find inspiration and that I was a bit burned out and couldn't produce anything that part, everyone understood. 

There were many great international artists that I adored, like Sarkodit, Nasaya Mafaridik, Sad Shrimps, Liunic, etc. But I just watched from afar, hihi. 

Did I get any inspiration? Daww, no. 

I guess I'm still in that depressive mode, but at least I tried. 

Anyway, good practice. 

Kudos to myself.