KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — Recently, a photo of a portrait of the Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on a Starbucks cup has been circulating around social media.

The photo was shared by Twitter user Hubert Ian Lee along with a photo of the artist who drew it as well.

“My friend is an Autistic artist who drew this on his Starbucks cup as a tribute for your dedication and wishes to pass this to you in-person.”

“Please help Luqman get noticed so he can pass this to DGH in-person!” he said in the tweet.

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The artist is Luqman Hakim, 27, who is a freelancer and is working on a comic which he is planning to send to a publisher.

Luqman had also shared the photos on his Facebook page.

 

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Luqman said that he had been planning to draw a tribute portrait of Dr Noor Hisham for a few months now as he wanted to show his appreciation for him.

The idea to draw on a Starbucks cup happened when he was at one of their outlets in Bandar Baru Bangi Gateway.

“Suddenly I got an idea, instead of using normal paper, why not just draw the portrait of him on a Starbucks cup.”

“I’ve always been a fan of Starbucks and I often draw things on a Starbucks cup for fun,” Luqman told Malay Mail.

According to Luqman, it took him about an hour to finish the portrait and he wasn’t expecting that his artwork would be shared all over social media platforms.

Since his artworks have been circulating around social media, Luqman admits that he’s touched by all the positive responses from the public.

“I felt like I wanted to cry after the pain and challenges that I’ve gone through, all the struggles as an autistic artist.”

“I’m really grateful for my friend Hubert Ian Lee who asked my permission to share my artwork on his Twitter,” he said.

When asked about what he would do if he gets to meet Dr Noor Hisham in person, Luqman said that he would be honoured to meet him.

“Besides expressing my appreciation and how proud I am as a Malaysian; I also want to tell him that Malaysian doctors have done a really great job in helping me to survive and be an independent, high functioning autistic person,” he said adding that he wanted to thank his parents who have been responsible for his achievements.

Luqman added that he spent most of his time at home developing and improving his drawing skills during the movement control order (MCO) period although it affected his art sales.

“But I believe that the hardest time will forge a great character, so giving up is not an option,” he said.

Luqman has always been a fan of art comics with realistic style and he is very particular about details in his drawings.

As an autistic person with traumatic experience of being bullied, Luqman often uses superhero and warrior as his subject.

He is currently working on a comic about the police and he has been doing his research on the matter.