"CREATE yourself, don't let other people create you," this is the mantra of Christian Johnard Padilla, an aspiring artist who never gets tired doing creative graphic designs.

Padilla was born on March 21, 1997 in Davao City. He studied at the University of the Immaculate Conception with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology specializing in multimedia system.

His hobbies include taking photographs, creating graphic designs, playing basketball and of course, eating.

His skills as an artist and his personal character as student were both enhanced when he joined the Special Programs in the Arts, specifically in Media Arts Division, of the Davao City National High School during his teenage years.

With this, he finished his secondary education in 2014 being bestowed with the "Media Arts Student of the Year" award.

Padilla joined the Regional Festival of Talents competition in 2014 where he finished champion in the Sineliksi Documentary and landed 3rd place among other 16 regions in the National Festival of Talents in 2014.

In his college days, he became the program officer, vice president for external affairs in their program, creative head in Student Supreme Government (SSG) and a graphic artist in their Immaculatus, a yearbook publication of the UIC.

"Struggle lang kay sa sobra nako ka passionate, hands on, organize sa akong pagka-artist, officer, mag lisod nako’g balance sa akong acads (academics), (I am struggling to balance my time being an artist, officer and academics since I’m passionate, hands on, organized with my being an artist)," Padilla said.

Despite the hardships, he faced those struggles with strength with the help of his family, friend, and also the woman he loved, J.J.

“Maskin nag-stop ko og school, gatabang gihapon ko sa UIC. Just to prove na naa koy mapakita na masking nag-stop ko, (Even though I stopped studying I am still helping UIC, to prove that I can still do it),” he said.

Aspiring artists should not limit their creativity, instead their creativity must be shown to others to inspire other youths and vice versa, Padilla ended.