Daily Inspiration: Meet Isaiah Mejias

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaiah Mejias.

Isaiah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Isaiah Jonathan Mejias, I was born in Holyoke Massachusetts on November 30th, 2003. I have been drawing my whole life. Growing up, I took an acute interest to Video games. At the age of 4, my mother took them away and placed a sketchbook in front of me. Ever since I’ve been obsessed with illustration. Being an anxious kid, I started the habit of bringing my sketchbook everywhere with me. It eased my social anxiety and allowed me to escape. When I turned 9 my mother and I fell on hard times. She had an abusive partner, and we were evicted from my childhood apartment. My mother also picked up an addiction to pills. It was traumatic seeing the person who I felt was the strongest in my world crumble. We couch surfed for about a year until she left me to live with my grandparents until she got clean from her Percocet addiction at the time. I lived there for 3 years with my grandfather and his control freak wife. They didn’t believe in mental health, so my mental state dwindled while I was under their care. I didn’t think I’d make it past my 20s. I was lost at the age of 11, just then processing the past 2 years of poverty and being the witness to domestic abuse. At that point my art got darker, more obsessive. The once innocent and silly drawings I made became more and more dark. I was severely depressed at that time. I could never focus on schoolwork, and daily life felt like a chore. It was obvious I wasn’t okay. 11 years later, I’m now 22. I reflect on these years a lot, trying to find correlation between my trauma, and my art style.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve had multiple challenges spanning my artistic career. Firstly, I’ve always wanted to be one of the greats. Frazetta, Beksinski, McFarlane, and Francis Bacon were my heroes when I was in highschool. In order to accomplish that goal, I’d earned I had to make sacrifices. I isolated extensively to focus on my studies. I’d spend up to 8 hours locking myself in a room with the aid of marijuana drawing habitually. If the drawing wasn’t what I intended it to be, I threw it out. There were days I couldn’t draw a single line, and still bashed my head against the wall trying to get down human anatomy. My biggest obstacle though, was my mental health. There were days where I couldn’t get my thoughts in order, and there were days where I couldn’t get my mind to stop. I’ve faced suicidal thoughts multiple times in my life, but art pulled me out from the depths many times.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work in ink, colored pencil, marker, colored pencils, and watercolor. My art is a reflection of my personality. It shows what I feel, what I find interesting, and my beliefs. I often use horror imagery to get my point across in my work. I utilize hatching, stippling, and scumbling techniques to give my work a raw feel to it.

How do you define success?
Success is not within financial boundaries. Success lies within the respect and recognition one gets from the peers of their craft.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hostile.ink?igsh=MWZqMjYwdHVjMGtvNA==