Pablo Papas
Find Pablo’s professional and personal work here.
Pablo began his art career at the age of nine years old. When he had a book report due, he woke up an hour early in the school morning, and quickly drew illustrations to fill the report with pencil drawings. The fifth grade teacher was wise to what Pablo was doing but nevertheless, gave him an “A” or “B” grade on the reports to encourage his talent.
The weekend before Pablo was to enter high school he was in a near fatal accident with his cousin. They were hit by a drunk driver. Pablo was in the hospital for nearly three months in traction and after seven surgeries, he still had to endure two more years in a leg cast. The ordeal changed Pablo’s life and outlook.
While attending junior college he discovered he had a passion for art. A book in the library on Leonardo Da Vinci sparked new life into Pablo.
Pablo eventually graduated from Cal State San Bernardino with a BA in Fine art, focus on life drawing and painting.
At this point, Pablo had an interest in filmmaking and animation. It was his aim to venture into a career in motion pictures creating special effects. However, Pablo’s life took another unexpected turn after a damaging relationship. As a result, his life lost direction and purpose. The accumulation of trauma from the accident and destructive relationship had Pablo contemplating suicide.
It would only take a single bullet to end the pain, Pablo reasoned.
Read Pablo’s very personal and revealing story on how he overcame life changing trauma to find inner peace.
However, Pablo considered he had already been through too much to give up. His only regret was that he didn’t die the night of the accident, but it was his parents that kept him alive and living.
To rebuild his life, Pablo fell back into commercial art. It was not his passion but a means to pay the bills; he still longed to fulfill his dreams to make films. Through the years, Pablo went from working in small print shops creating graphics to eventually, working in a Los Angeles advertising firm creating industrial videos.
The closest Pablo felt to reaching his dream is when he teamed up with Angel Aviles and created BF Cafe. They were able to make a short film with an emerging YouTube personality Stevie Ryan. Pablo felt it was the start to achieving his dream, but instead, the partnership with Angel dissolved and BF Cafe went defunct.
After long soul searching and Pablo’s confrontation with the effects of his trauma he had buried for nearly thirty years, Pablo finally found a means to inner peace. He had faced his demon and grasped onto a spiritual life through gratitude and understanding. It was a long, hard fought quest.
Today, Pablo is still pursuing his dreams only now with peace in his heart, calm in his mind and passion to create in all mediums. It’s his purpose.