“IT HAS been my passion since I was young which I continued believing that it will bring me to greater heights.”

This was what Rogelio Noynay Agupasa, 35, of Barangay Tiglawigan, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, said when asked why he loves to make sketches of people.

Since elementary school, he had always been asked to draw, but he was forced to stop doing what he loved after he worked as a house helper when he reached high school.

For Agupasa, while most artists find it difficult to draw sketches, he thinks it is easier to do compared to drawing other subjects.

Among the many sketches he made, a 12-family member portrait was so far the most expensive piece he had sold at P7,000.

“This helped me when I was taking AB English in college and it became my source of income so I can support my family,” Agupasa said.

Aside from the financial help, his passion for arts also earned him recognition for four straight years in various contests being the representative of his school in college.

As an artist, he encourages the younger ones to hone their talents even if they experience rejections and other people are putting them down,

“Above all, don’t forget to thank God for the talent he gave you,” he stressed.