Beginning as an Artist

Maclang went under the online alias “arlihama” starting in 2001 at age seven, using the name for accounts on MSN, NickSplat, KnowledgeAdventure and other online networks targeted for children. In 2003, taking interest in writing, she left her school arts club for the young writers’ club and participated in competitive campus journalism. In 2004, she started up her first attempt at blogging in an anime enthusiasts online community, myOtaku.com. Here she met Phil Gorman who taught her Photoshop, which inspired her efforts in digital arts. In May of 2008, she created her first deviantART account which remains active to this day.

Spearheaded by arlihama’s dA, there was a group of artists dedicated to digital media using mice instead of graphic pen tablets. The group opened a new account called TheMouseCafe. Two mascots were created for the group: Raffy, a small brown rat with the male end of the USB plug on his tail, and Kaffy, a smiling cup of coffee where Raffy would always sit in. Raffy the “mouse” was obvious. But Kaffy was made to give an idea that mouse users have to give more effort and take more time with making digital art pieces, thus spending long, sleepless, caffeine driven nights.

The group was not able to accomplish much because of differences in time. The core team was comprised of arlihama’s closest school friends Xela See, Nona Santos and Miki Austriaco. By the time of creation, they were entering fourth year high school, preparing for college entrance exams and graduation. The group dissolved, but arlihama’s personal use of Kaffy the Cup continued as her signature character both on and offline.