Zen Pencils: Gavin Aung Than becomes comic star after trading in job, house to pursue dreams
Many of us have dreams of ditching our stable, secure careers in order to pursue artistic dreams, but few of us pluck up the courage to do it.
Three years ago, Melbourne-based graphic designer Gavin Aung Than was looking for a way out of his comfortable but boring office job.
"I worked a regular nine-to-five and I'd been doing that for many years and it was really unsatisfying," he told 7.30.
"I had always kind of had this idea to be a professional cartoonist and I've always been scribbling. I was always that kid at the back of the classroom doodling away."
Mr Than realised he wanted to use his talents to help people, and came up with the idea of using quotes from famous thinkers, artists and leaders as the basis for a comic on the internet.
"It could be someone like Albert Einstein, Mark Twain or someone more current like Malala Yousafzai," he said.
The idea for Zen Pencils was born, but Gavin had a problem.
He could not hold down his day job and work on Zen Pencils, so inspired by the quotes he loved he took a leap of faith of his own.
"Looking back on it now, I don't know what I was thinking to be honest, because I don't know if I would do it again. But yeah, I just decided to quit," he said.
He did not only quit. He and his wife Jessica Ong sold their house to pursue his dream of drawing a comic full-time.
"I was like, 'oh my God, are you serious? What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? What are we going to eat? Are we going to have to live with your parents again or what?" Ms Ong said.
But over the past three years, since taking his leap of faith, Zen Pencils has transformed into an online phenomenon, with fans from Latin America to India and everywhere in between.
Few of his global fans realise he is drawing his inspirational comics from a small home office in the working class Melbourne suburb of Sunshine.
"People here in New York talk about Zen Pencils as if it's some American guy doing it from over here," said Zen Pencils fan, and illustrator of Ginger Meggs, Jason Chatfield.
"It's incredible. You know he's made a really big impact over here."
Jason Chatfield is in awe of Gavin's decision to quit his day job and sell his house to fund his dream.
"The amount of courage, the amount of guts that took – that leap of faith, not knowing what was going to happen next – is incredible," he said.
The leap of faith has paid off.
In the past year Gavin has had his work presented at the huge comic convention, San Diego ComicCon, and has spoken at the super hip World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon.
To top it off, his first compilation, published in November, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list for graphic paper backs.
"Gavin's got a really compelling story. He's living proof of following one's passion in life and his back story was certainly very interesting to us. He's a really great cartoonist and he's tapped into a super idea," said Deborah McQuoid of Andrews McMeel Publishing.
And the final sweetener in an already successful year - Gavin and Jessica have just bought another house, three years after selling their home to allow Gavin to pursue his dream.
"The gamble has paid off," he said.
