Tag: Childhood Creative Projects

Have you ever gone through your oldest papers, all the mediocre drawings and the dumb Pokémon fanfiction you made when you were 10-12 years old (which you still have, of course, because deep down you knew you’d never want to get rid of them)—all the assorted monster drawings you doodled in school, and been surprised to find a collection you barely even remembered? A literal collection—titled, themed, stacked and stapled together, featuring a wholly original cast of characters with names and artwork and biographies?

A world you almost completely forgot you had ever created… but clearly, it must have mattered to you a lot, once upon a time—after all, why else would you have written so much cringe-worthy backstory for this “epic” monster war saga?

That, roughly, is my modern day experience with rediscovering my file folder for Master Men.

(AKA, my unintentional first business venture.)

When I was in 5th grade, I liked to draw. Not with any seriousness of an aspiring artist, of course—my creative endeavors went in other well known directions over the years. But at the time, I enjoyed doodling fantasy creatures of my own design. Quetzalcoatl-esque dragons, weird monsters, and for one brief but important period of my life, a species I dubbed “Chinkin warriors.”

(Before I go on, I need to be clear: it’s pronounced CHIN-kin. The “k” is on the second syllable. The “n” is not the same “n” sound as in the word “ink.” Any resemblance to any terrible slurs is an unfortunate coincidence. I didn’t know about that word when I was a sheltered ten year old.)