Passion from childhood

American young man Brandon Chen (27 years old) is living and working in New York City (USA). Chen loved comics since he was a child, after he read the Dragon Ball series by Japanese author Toriyama Akira.

Since childhood, Chen has wished that he could also create stories and draw impressive cartoons like that.

When he was in elementary school, Chen drew his own comic book magazine that came out every week to satisfy his hobby. Chen sold these magazines to his friends at school. That was his first step into the world of comics.

At the age of 14, he decided to focus on developing his writing skills and wrote his first novel inspired by the manga series Naruto by Japanese author Kishimoto Masashi.

Chen introduced his work on social media platforms and attracted the attention of the online community. This gave Chen confidence in his own abilities. At the age of 17, Chen decided to self-publish his first novel.

From the age of 17 to 20, Chen set a goal of writing a new work every year. At the age of 22, Chen stopped writing novels and returned to his childhood passion: writing and drawing comics.

Throughout his life with passion, Chen still achieved good academic results at school, he was admitted to the prestigious New York University, majoring in economics and computer science.

For Chen, he makes sure to have acceptable academic results. Chen spends most of his time studying and creating comics. While his friends pursue hobbies and attend vibrant parties, Chen only focuses on studying and pursuing his own passion.

Courage to live with passion

After graduating from university in 2019, Chen became a financial consultant at the leading prestigious auditing firm in the US and internationally - KPMG.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Chen went through a long period of quarantine, staying at home. Now, no longer being controlled by his financial consulting job, Chen devoted all his time to creating comics. The more he created, the more passionate he became. After completing a new work called Icarus Rising , Chen submitted it to a comic magazine in Japan.

The series went viral online, making Chen more well-known. Thanks to that, Chen got publishing contracts for his first comic series such as God Game or Just A Goblin . Online comic platforms also started to seek out Chen to collaborate on new series.

For Chen, the Covid-19 pandemic was an important time for him to calmly think about himself and the career he wanted to pursue. In addition, the sudden passing of Japanese manga artist Kentaro Miura at the age of 54 in 2021 made Chen even more determined to pursue his dream.

The passing of author Miura made Chen think a lot: "I thought about myself growing old with a job in finance, which is not a job that I am truly passionate about. It was sad for me, because in my whole life, I never dared to let myself live my passion to the fullest.

Life is full of uncertainties, what if I suddenly pass away before I can fully live my passion? So why am I not willing to take the risk when I am still young, healthy, full of enthusiasm and can still start over if necessary?

Thinking so, Chen decided to quit his job in finance in May 2021. Immediately after quitting his job, Chen had to think of a way to convince his parents to temporarily put their minds at ease.

Chen realized that his income from writing was almost as good as his job in finance. However, his parents, both traditional Chinese-Americans, did not believe in the career of comic book writing. They thought it was a precarious, low-paying job.

Chen's solution was to create a presentation with tables, illustrations, and very specific numbers. He presented it to his parents, using the mindset of a financial advisor to help them understand the comic book market, the income of comic book creators, and his personal goals.

Chen promised his parents that if he did not achieve his goals within five years of pursuing his career as a comic artist, he would return to his career in finance. This made his parents feel more secure about the new direction their son was taking.

Finally, with his persistent passion and serious, scientific working attitude, Chen said that he is now "living well" by creating comics. He does not regret the time he spent studying economics and working in the financial sector.

It was that period of time that helped Chen understand what his true passion was, helping him to have the determination to pursue his dream to the end.