When life gives you COVID 19 pandemic while working on a cruise ship, there are those who cry you a river and those who turn towards some form of creative awakening while rising above the power of the pandemic fear. One such amazing man is David Oscar who joined Carnival Cruise Lines in 2017 boarding his first ship with a sketch pad and thirst for experiences, friendships and travel. He quickly learns the insights of the cruise culture and life, as well as how hard it is to come by to enough energy to pursue his love for the creative arts. However, he keeps up whenever he finds some free time. David spends several years on cruise ships making some amazing bonds and friendships, as well as enough material for a comic towards which he strives for when the time for that dream becomes right.

“I have found good friends on board. Very nice people. My heart has been broken as well, but this is part of our life as crew members. I have enjoyed a lot my life on board. It's been hard most of the time, working on board is not easy, but even with that I want people to know about what we do. I have this feeling all crew members are good people deep inside. That explains we can survive with minimal issues even with the hard conditions and differences,” says David.

When COVID-19 hit the world and the cruise ships even harder, David was on a ship working and found salvage in his creative awakening where he pours out his energy, thoughts, feelings and also what he sees around his crew life and world. Even throughout the struggles, his outlook maintains that of resiliency fueled with rich creativity. 

“During this pandemic, I got stuck on the Carnival Breeze with nothing to do and an empty sketchpad. So I just started drawing. Once I got repatriated I decided to post the sketches about crew life. I wanna do a compilation with totally fresh material in a sequence. Something like a comic but with all our crazy stories,” says David.

Once he was repatriated and returned home safely he posts his creative endeavors online and receives great feedback and attention, so much so that people started requesting sketches being drawn by him from all over the world as his drawings are unique from the realistic, yet comical perspective of the cruising life that most often only people who have worked and lived on cruise ships. For anyone who may be interested in ordering, this chill creative is more of the improviser than the organizer which is true for many true and great creatives. Just contact him directly and discuss your vision. Once he has an idea, he will put it on paper and email you a copy of it. As far as a comic book regarding the crew life anytime soon, we will wait a little bit longer as this is a future dream of his that we will be eager to see one day come true. 

"Crew member illustrated is intended to create a team to have the comic book or the animated series or both, not only for my drawings,” says David. “I have plans to keep drawing and posting. I still have more material to be uploaded.”

Crew Center would like to say thank you to this creative mindset and reminding us that we can all dig into our creative awakening and rise above in resilience, beauty, and some laughter.

If you like David's work and want to commission a comic drawing you can text him with the request and reference pictures at his FB page Crew Member Illustrated or visit his Instagram account osc_david1.