Artists against algorithms: pistashxo keeps it human
Sarah Saifuddin juggles schoolwork, marketing social media algorithms, and has turned her passion into profit.
Hospital brochures and anti-smoking advertisements aren’t usually what you’d expect an artist to take inspiration from. Sarah Saifuddin, 25, once spent her childhood drawing in a hospital bed with crayons and colour pencils. Now, she’s a blossoming artist with multiple successful booths under her belt.
Sarah is a student at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Arts, Design and Media (ADM), specialising in visual communications. Also known as pistashxo on her socials, she describes her style as a combination of bright colours and abstract strokes, along with a mastery of the Charlie Brown cartoon technique.
She first started boothing in Year 1 during one of ADM’s annual exhibitions, and she took her business even further at the Asia Comics Expo 2025. Now, she’s even gone global. With clients from all over the world — China, America and even Saudi Arabia — purchasing her prints and merchandise.
Sarah’s childhood drawings of hospital pamphlets.
Pamphlets to paintbrushes
Van Gogh might have had a peculiar path to fame, but Sarah’s journey is nothing to scoff at either. “When I was young, I had a blood disorder called Thalassemia. I visited the hospital a lot, and it was super boring, since we didn’t have iPads back then,” Sarah said. “My main source of entertainment was reading the hospital’s pamphlets and brochures. Somehow, the five-year-old me then found anti-smoking ads fun to draw.”
Drawing helped take her young mind off the stressful experience, but she realised that her knack for art was more rewarding than expected. A realisation that would determine her future.
Sarah and her friends at their 3Prawn booth @ the EOY Creators’ Alley 2022.
From canvas to convention booth
“Growing up as an artist, all the adults tell you to sell your art and make some profit, but I never thought I had the talent to actually earn money,” Sarah admitted. However, entering university challenged that mindset.
Several times a year, ADM turns its halls into a student bazaar, offering a low-stakes way for students to try boothing. On occasions like Valentine’s Day, students are free to set up a stall to sell their merchandise in school — a chance which Sarah seized to further her art venture.
After her successful first booth, she moved to even larger-scale events like Comic Con, Dokidoki Anime Market and Asia Comics Expo. Besides boothing, Sarah runs an online store and provides shipping beyond Singapore.
“So far, I’ve shipped to China, Indonesia and the Philippines. I even have orders from Canada, the United Kingdom… There was even one guy from Saudi Arabia who bought $200 worth of merchandise.”
Sketches that bring smiles
Other than selling her own merchandise and fan art, Sarah developed the cutest niche after her second boothing experience: live-drawing commissions that transform customers into characters straight out of a Charlie Brown animation. It started with her making Peanuts-style stickers for herself — until one post took off and made the style her unexpected signature.
“I get families or couples who commission me for my Peanuts drawings. If I’m drawing a couple, I try to ask them questions, like ‘What’s the occasion?’ or ‘How did you get together?’ to gauge their personalities. It’s an honour that I get to express their love and preserve it in every stroke.”
Her words were a heartwarming admission.
“ I always hope that my art can be a good luck charm for them, to last long even after my drawings are done.”
When colours get muddy
The path of an artist isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Sarah once struggled with the logistics side of boothing, green as she was to start a business.
Before the art even comes into play, most events require their stall owners to secure a spot by submitting their portfolio and what they plan to sell (which terrifyingly sounds like a job interview). Next, Sarah recounted the troublesome ordeal of planning what to sell, ordering materials, handling shipping — all while juggling project work and lectures. “When I did my booth at Asia Comics Expo, I had two final presentations due the day before. That was definitely something I couldn’t predict.”
What AI means for real artists
Following current developments in AI, generative art has been a core debate that kickstarted it all. As a consumer, Sarah admitted her fascination with the subject, but as an artist, the lack of humanity frightened her.
“I know a lot of artists argue that AI art has no soul, that it will never compare to human-made art. For me, AI art has gotten so sophisticated to the point where even I can’t tell — and that is scary. It lacks human intention, lacks a target audience.”
Surprisingly enough, she brought up the issue of copyright and data privacy. “Whatever AI creates is only an amalgamation of what a lot of other humans thought of. And it becomes another concern of data because, have these people consented?”
Despite it all, she understands if people find AI interesting. The technology was a mark of humanity’s progress, but her hope is for people to remember real human artists who spend hours, days, months pouring their efforts into their work.
“What I want people to understand is that the struggle is part of the journey. For a lot of artists, making mistakes and learning from them is what makes art so fun.”
“Seeing the difference between your first painting and your hundredth, how they’ve grown and how their brushstrokes grow more confident — that is humanity. That is art.”
Seeing the bigger picture
Sarah’s next big plan is to tap into her creativity and make more original art. “A lot of the art I make now is fan art, which is fun as well, but I’d like to create more personal artworks and post the ones I’ve been putting aside.”
In the end, she hopes for future artists to never lose hope and always love art. “There’s no wrong way to pursue art. To me, art is about self-expression, to make space for who you are and to let everything happen naturally.”
“Your voice is inherently unique — no one has lived your life the way you have. Even someone with the same story will never feel your emotions. That’s the beautiful tragedy of being human, and art is our attempt to bridge that gap. We may never close it entirely, but the struggle is what makes art so powerful.”
“Who you are is already enough to make art worth creating.”
Follow her on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr @pistashxo!
