How I Became One of Pakistan's Top Rated Artists — The alisketchez Journey

How I Became One of Pakistan's Top Rated Artists — The alisketchez Journey

Every Great Story Starts With a Single Line

Not a plan. Not a business strategy. Not a vision board or a five year roadmap.

Just a line. Drawn by hand. On a blank piece of paper.

That is where alisketchez began.

Not in a studio. Not with expensive equipment or formal training or a ready-made audience. But with the most basic creative act a human being can perform — picking up a pencil and deciding to draw something.

What grew from that single line is a story I still cannot fully believe when I sit down to think about it. A story of passion, struggle, late nights, self-doubt, breakthroughs, and eventually — something that changed my life entirely.

This is how I became one of Pakistan's top rated artists. And I want to share every part of it — the beautiful parts and the difficult ones — because I think the full story matters.

Chapter One — The Beginning Nobody Saw

When I first started creating art seriously, nobody was watching.

No followers. No clients. No recognition. Just me, my tools, and an obsession with getting better every single day.

I was not the most naturally gifted person in every room. What I had — and what I believe more than any natural talent — was stubbornness. The refusal to put down the brush until the piece was right. The inability to accept mediocre when I knew extraordinary was possible with more effort.

I studied faces obsessively. The way light falls across a cheekbone. The way eyes carry emotion even when the rest of the face is still. The way a portrait can feel alive or feel dead depending on decisions made in the first ten minutes of creating it.

I practised. I failed. I practised more. I failed differently. And slowly — very slowly — something began to take shape.

Not just skill. But a style. A way of approaching a portrait that was distinctly mine. Rich colours. Expressive brushwork. A commitment to capturing not just how a person looks but who they actually are.

The alisketchez signature was being born — even before I knew what to call it.

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Chapter Two — The First Client. The First Reaction.

I remember the first time I handed a completed portrait to a client.

I had worked on it longer than they probably expected. I had restarted sections twice because something was not quite right. I had stared at their reference photograph so many times I could close my eyes and see it clearly.

When I handed it over — I watched their face.

First there was silence. That particular silence that happens when someone is genuinely processing something they did not expect. Then something changed in their eyes. And then they said words I have never forgotten.

"This looks exactly like them. But it feels like something more."

That was the moment. That was when I understood what I was actually doing — not just creating likenesses, but creating emotional experiences. Not just painting faces but painting feelings, memories, and the invisible things that make one person irreplaceable to another.

From that moment — I knew this was not a hobby. This was my life's work.

Chapter Three — Building alisketchez From Zero

Starting a creative business in Pakistan with no template, no mentor, and no roadmap is genuinely difficult.

I had the skill. But skill alone does not build a business. I needed to find the people who would value what I was creating. I needed to communicate — in a world drowning in digital content — why a 100% handmade oil painting was worth something that a printed photograph could never be.

The early days of alisketchez were humbling.

Some days the orders came. Many days they did not. Some clients immediately understood the value of genuine handmade art. Others needed convincing. A few never understood — and that was okay. Not every piece of art is for every person.

But I kept going. I posted my work consistently. I improved every single piece. I took every piece of feedback seriously — even when it was difficult to hear. And I made one commitment to myself that I have never broken:

Every painting that leaves alisketchez will be something I am genuinely proud of.

No compromises. No shortcuts. No rushing a piece because a deadline was pressing.

Handmade. Always. Without exception.

Chapter Four — When Pakistan Started Noticing

Something shifts when you commit to quality consistently over a long period of time.

People start talking.

A client shares their portrait on social media. Their followers ask where it came from. Someone orders for themselves. They share their portrait. The circle grows. Slowly at first — and then all at once.

I began receiving orders from across Pakistan. Karachi. Lahore. Islamabad. Peshawar. Quetta. Cities I had never visited — but whose residents trusted me with their most precious memories.

Then international orders began arriving. Pakistanis in the UK. In the UAE. In the USA. In Canada. People who had left Pakistan but wanted a piece of art that connected them to the people and places they loved.

alisketchez was no longer a small local studio. It was becoming something national.

And with national reach came a new kind of client — one I had never expected to have.

Chapter Five — The Celebrity Collaborations Begin

I painted my first celebrity portrait not because a famous person commissioned it — but because I wanted to push myself.

Painting someone whose face an entire nation knows is the ultimate test for a portrait artist. Every Pakistani viewer has their own mental image of that person. Every viewer can immediately judge whether the likeness is accurate. There is nowhere to hide.

So I chose a face that challenged me. I poured everything into it. And I shared it.

The reaction was beyond anything I expected.

Comments flooded in. Shares multiplied. The subject themselves — a beloved Pakistani public figure — reacted. And from that moment, the alisketchez celebrity portrait series was born.

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Chapter Six — The Faces That Defined the Journey

Over the years that followed, alisketchez created handmade oil portraits of some of Pakistan's most recognised and beloved faces.

Imran Ashraf. One of Pakistan's greatest actors — whose portrait became the most significant moment in alisketchez's history when it was featured live on Mazaaq Raat — national television — seen by millions of Pakistanis across the country.

Hania Amir. Fahad Mustafa. Kinza Hashmi. Pakistan's most beloved drama and film stars — each portrait a new challenge, a new opportunity to capture not just a face but a personality that an entire nation knows and loves.

Ducky Bhai. Kanwal Aftab. Zulqarnain Sikander. Hira Faisal. Pakistan's biggest digital creators — whose handmade oil portraits brought the world of traditional art directly into the social media age.

Talha Anjum. Talwiinder. Musicians whose emotional depth as artists found a mirror in the emotional depth of handmade portrait painting.

And then — the moment that took alisketchez beyond Pakistan's borders entirely.

Karan Aujla — one of the biggest names in international Punjabi music — commented on our handmade oil painting. "Wow bro." 12,254 likes on that single comment. 21,257,512 total views on the post.

alisketchez had gone international.

Chapter Seven — 5,000 Clients. 121,000 Followers. One Standard.

Today, alisketchez has served over 5,000 happy clients across Pakistan and internationally. Built a community of 121,000+ Instagram followers at @alisketchez. Been featured on national television. Reached 21 million views on a single post.

But the number I am most proud of is not any of those.

The number I am most proud of is zero.

Zero compromises on quality. Zero shortcuts taken. Zero paintings sent out that I was not genuinely proud of.

Because in the end — the celebrity reactions, the viral moments, the national television features, the millions of views — none of that happens without the foundation of genuine quality.

Every brushstroke matters. Every client matters. Every painting matters.

That has been true since the first portrait I ever handed to a client. And it will be true for every portrait alisketchez creates going forward.

 

Chapter Eight — What I Have Learned

Nearly a decade into this journey, I want to share what I have genuinely learned — not the polished version, but the real version.

Consistency beats talent. I have met more naturally gifted artists than myself who are not working in art today. What kept me going was not talent. It was showing up every single day and choosing to improve.

Quality speaks louder than marketing. I never had a big advertising budget. What I had was work that was genuinely good — and clients who shared it because they were genuinely proud to own it.

Your unique style is your greatest asset. The years I spent developing the alisketchez signature — the colour palette, the brushwork, the approach to capturing personality — those years felt slow at the time. Looking back, that style is everything.

Pakistan deserves world-class art. And Pakistan has world-class artists. The problem was never talent — it was visibility. I hope alisketchez has helped change that conversation even slightly.

Every client is a story. The mother whose portrait made her daughter cry. The couple whose wedding painting hangs in their bedroom. The family who gifted a memorial portrait of a loved one they lost. These stories are the real measure of what alisketchez has built.

The Journey Continues — And It Is Just Beginning

Twenty one million views felt like an arrival. National television felt like an arrival. Five thousand clients felt like an arrival.

But the truth is — every milestone is just a new starting point.

There are more faces to paint. More stories to capture. More clients whose precious memories deserve to be elevated into genuine handmade oil paintings that will hang on walls for generations.

alisketchez is not done. Not even close.

And the most exciting part of this journey? It no longer belongs only to me.

It belongs to every client who trusted us. Every follower who shared our work. Every celebrity who took a moment to react. Every Pakistani who looked at a handmade portrait and felt something.

This journey is not mine alone. It never was.

🎨 Commission Your Own Handmade Portrait Today

The same passion that drove every chapter of this journey goes into every single commission we accept at alisketchez.

Whether you want a family portrait, couple painting, celebrity portrait, child portrait, Islamic calligraphy art, or any custom handmade oil painting — we are ready to create something extraordinary for you.

Step 1 — Visit alisketchez.pk and browse our collection.

Step 2 — Place your order online in minutes.

Step 3 — Send your photo via WhatsApp — we guide you through everything.

Step 4 — Our artists create your handmade oil painting masterpiece.

Step 5 — Delivered safely anywhere in Pakistan — and internationally. 🇵🇰✈️

Visit alisketchez.pk — Pakistan's most trusted handmade portrait studio since 2016.

📱 WhatsApp us directly — let us create something extraordinary for you.

📸 Follow the journey: @alisketchez

Started with a pencil. Built with passion. Trusted by Pakistan. Alhamdulillah. 🎨🇵🇰