Abeer Kasiri of AKtoonify

by Zainab Nasir
(Karachi)

Your city:

Karachi

What drives you? (What makes you so passionate about your work)

Deadlines. Most of the time.


How did you get here and how long have you been in this profession (or been doing what you do)?

Well, it wasn’t an easy journey, with zero knowledge of tools and how to use them. A thirst to learn something and be good at it, I started my career. It has been almost, 6 years.
It all began as a trainee in an animation House in 2012, At that point I never thought that I'd be what I am today. I wanted to put my skills to great use, to be able to do something meaningful, I knew how to draw and paint but never in my life had I worked on any software. It was my friends and family who motivated me and pushed me to apply at other places too. Then I applied at a renowned software house and that decision altered my life forever. With the passion to learn new things and to prove myself, I met the most amazing people there, who taught me and polished my skills, because of my mentors' guidance and immense support, it led me to where I am today.
I always look upto them for advice and support.
Now, I work as an Illustrator and designer in a software house.
Besides that, I started AKtoonify in February 2015. I loved making toons of people and later started that as a business and began to paint their memories as toons.
It is a source of great joy to bring smile on people's face through my toons and artwork. Working in a software house and running my business along with it is a difficult task but I love each and every bit of it.

I hope I have made friends and family proud.


What has been your vision and what do you most love about your work?

I love everything about my work. The best part of being in an art field is that there is no end to learning. You learn something new every day!
Its a new adventure and a blessing every day.
I want to learn as much as I can and be great at what I do. I want to create story books for children and hope that I can make some difference through my art.


What do you think is your biggest achievement throughout your professional journey?

I have worked on several projects uptil now (games, applications, illustrating books) and I loved each one of it!
I was a part of an exhibition last December at Commune Artist Colony. It was an over whelming experience.
And then there is this project I am still working on and part of the design team, it is www.mybrushies.com I think I have given my all to it. From animating videos to illustrating them, designing games and the device.
It is a great learning experience and we have put a lot of sweat and hard work in it.

Other than that I think having my own business AKtoonify is my greatest achievement.
Everyone knows me as the Toonify girl and we managed to toonify 80 people in a year and a half.
Alhamdulillah.
It’s a blessing!

What are your current projects and what do you plan on doing in the near future?
I am proudly toonifying people and getting better at it, Alhumdulillah.
And I am a part of Brushies designing team, still working on the project.
Apart from it i am working as illustrator for several other projects.

A word of advice you would like to pass on to other women struggling with their start-ups?
Never stop learning.