Who are you and what kind of content do you create?

My name is Anthony del Rosario otherwise known as “AIZENSKYE” and I am currently based here in Manila, Philippines.  I graduated as an Electronics Engineer, however, I am not actually practicing it right now working as Manager in a multinational company here in PH.

I was always into arts since I was a child.  Inspired by my father, I started drawing and getting commissions as early as 5 yrs old.  From conventional to now digital, the moment I got the chance to take a video of my drawing process, I immediately uploaded it to my social media accounts.

Right now, I am doing this as a part time thing, a hobby, a refreshing activity that recharges me from my stressful day to day tasks.  Currently, I am doing this on my own but I am thinking of expanding my brand in the future.  Speaking of brand, AIZENSKYE originally came from my sons' names “Aizen” and “Skye”, the logo is actually “ICE” and “SKY” combined, which I designed myself in less than 5 minutes.

Let's go down memory lane, tell us your backstory! 

Even though I started arts at such an early age, I just entered creating content and publishing it online about 2 years ago. Initially, I just wanted to inspire other artists out there and enjoy the process, however, as time went by I realized that this is really what I wanted to do.  I am still working full time and I would not be a hypocrite and tell you that yes, I am thinking of pursuing content creation full time. 

Youtube is my first platform yet my content boomed better on Tiktok.  I am also uploading my works on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  I get my inspiration from my fellow art content creators such as Rossdraw, WLOP, Artgerm and others.

How do you brainstorm ideas for your content and your advice in getting the creative juice flowing.

I usually use current events as a source of ideas to gain more traction, yet I see to it that I really know the topic before I use it as a reference.  I never fail to build my capabilities to ensure that I would create good content for my followers.

In terms of idea generation, I watch a lot of videos on my niche, while I am enjoying it, I learn from them and I get new ideas from that and I inject my own style after.

What are the tools and platforms you use to help with your brand?

Procreate on my Ipad is my go-to software.  In terms of video creation tools, I use Lumafusion or Wondershare. At first I didn’t know how to use both but by watching online tutorials and continuously using it, I learned.

Believe it or not, I used Microsoft Powerpoint to create my first logos including my AIZENSKYE logo since that was the only tool that I have before.

What were your fears starting out? How did you handle it? 

At first, it’s somehow saddening that you are not getting the views or the likes that you want.  There are times I thought of quitting since I am not seeing what I expected, but my family and my friends helped me to overcome that because I know that they believed in me.

That day came that I realized that I am not actually doing this to gain likes, I am doing this to have fun, inspire and share my gift to everyone.  If you would think about that, there would be no reason to be afraid.

I still remember my first videos and works, it was… horrible hahaha.  I am not saying my works are perfect right now, I am still learning, but I saw the improvement, and that ignited me more.

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How did you build your brand to where it is now, take us through your process.

My brand actually gained traction when I started uploading videos daily, yes it does take a lot of effort but it will pay out.  I remember not getting any views for a few months when I was uploading videos on a weekly rate.  I started with 100 followers for the first 2 months then when I posted my 1 video that gained more than 5 Million views, “Drawing Pikachu in 10 Seconds” it boomed from there.

For someone who wants to get into content creation, what is your advice?

From all the learnings that I gained for the past two years, I realized the importance of focusing on one niche only, your followers and social media algorithm will not be confused on what content you are really trying to make.   When I started, I remember publishing music contents, unboxing videos, tech reviews and it somehow affected my channel negatively.

What I can suggest is to know first what you really want to achieve, do you want to Entertain? Inform? Educate? From there, you would know what steps you can do after.  For example, if you want to educate, focus on one topic, make sure you are knowledgeable or you have researched on the given topic so your content will be of value to your audience.  All things aside, it all goes to one thing.  What value are you creating for them, what are their problems that you want to solve? Focus on that, and you will be fine.

How did you finally commit to X platform rather than your regular day job?

I am still doing my full time job yet I am preparing to shift to what I love best

Tell us your biggest obstacles you have experienced in your content creation journey. And how did you bounce back?

My biggest obstacle is lack of time. Juggling a lot of activities together with content creation is not an easy thing.  Later on, I just learned to prioritize.

Tell us your best milestones in being a content creator.

My biggest achievement is being able to inspire people that follow me. I have received a lot of messages from them about their experiences, how I affected them and all, and it truly is a magical feeling.

What are your marketing strategies to grow your brand?

I watched a lot of content myself on how to grow my brand, watching videos like that from the internet really gave me a head start.  I also got some sites that discovered my gift and channel and helped me share them on other social media platforms and I can say it helped a lot too.

In the future, I wish to have more time to do this stuff and I was actually planning to do a collaboration with some of the content creators from my niche that I know.

How do you handle brand deals and sponsorships? 

I sometimes receive brand deals, commissions and sponsorships and I discuss with them what I can offer them, some went good and some didn’t.  I have yet to reach out to certain brands but I want to make sure first that I can give them the quality time it needs to make quality content.

What I can say is, I am really proud and appreciative of every sponsorship I am getting, no matter how small or big, I consider it a big blessing. 

What is your monthly earning from content creation? 

All in all I am receiving 250USD - 3000USD per month from content and sponsorship, that is with the limited time.  I know most of you can do better than me if you would really focus on this and make yourself better.