HI, I'M ALINA!
1990s – The Beginning of a Very Unfinished Literary Career.
I was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, into a military family. My first attempt at becoming an author happened in 4th grade. Armed with a stapler, a few pieces of paper, and unlimited confidence, I created a book called Night & Gale with the Princess. I even illustrated the cover myself.
The book was never completed. To this day, nobody knows where it is. Perhaps it is hidden in a cupboard somewhere, waiting for its long-overdue sequel.
2012 – Enter the Cupcake Years
Instead of becoming a psychologist, I became a cake artist. Because obviously that was the next step.
In 2012, I started creating customized cakes and cupcakes and became one of the first artists in Rawalpindi to hand-pipe miniature buttercream cartoon characters onto cupcakes.
For the next ten years, I spent my days turning sugar into tiny works of art. It was creative. It was rewarding. It was also physically exhausting. My wrists still remember.
2020 – The School Walls Got Nervous
Right before COVID arrived, I took on the interior artwork of The City School, Bahria Phase 7. My job was to paint and decorate the walls.Somehow, I also ended up becoming an Art Teacher there. I went in to paint the school. The school painted a new job title onto me.
2021 – Marriage, Moving, and New Adventures
In 2021, during the pandemic, I got married and moved to another city. Life changed dramatically. Set up my very first Art Station. Thankfully, creativity came along for the ride.
2022 – Coffee, Cameras, and Creativity Everywhere
In 2022, my husband and I worked together on a coffee café project. He handled the technical side of things. I handled the interior décor, design work, and hand-painted the café walls. Basically, he made sure everything worked. I made sure everything looked pretty.
That same year, I entered the world of freelancing. I created 30-second craft videos for Diply Crafty on Snapchat and later recorded art courses for Skillit, teaching Acrylic Painting, Pen & Ink Art, and Zentangle Art. With my earnings, I bought my very first drawing tablet. That little tablet would end up changing my life.
2023 – Becoming a Children's Book Illustrator (By Accident)
After countless hours of practice, I signed my first-ever children's book illustration contract:
Tiny Christmas Angel.
At the time, I had absolutely no professional experience illustrating books. So I did what many artists do: I taught myself everything I could and hoped for the best. Fortunately, it worked. Soon after came a five-book series with the unforgettable title: I Should Have Known Than to Wear a Black and Yellow Sweater. (Yes, that is really the title.) The project taught me a tremendous amount about children's publishing and illustration.
2024 – Thinking Bigger
By 2024, my projects were no longer limited to paper, screens, or cupcakes. I was commissioned to create a six-foot-tall floral arrangement for a military mess in Gujranwala.
It was one of those projects that sounded exciting when I said "yes" and slightly terrifying once I realized just how big six feet actually is. Fortunately, it survived. So did I. Around the same time, the illustration projects kept growing, and so did my confidence as an artist.
2025 – Whole New World
In 2025, At Command & Staff College, Quetta, where I taught art classes in a variety of mediums, including Acrylic Painting, Pen & Ink, and Mixed Media. Over the year, I taught countless students, created cards, flowers, displays, and more art projects than I could possibly count. It was a strange full-circle moment.
Years earlier, I had been a student wondering what to do with art. Now I was the one teaching it. One of the highlights of my time there was presenting the college with a painting titled:
"Yeh Ghazi Yeh Teray Purusrar Bandey."
The artwork now hangs outside the Safdar Lounge at Command & Staff College, Quetta. Of all the projects I have completed, there is something particularly special about creating a piece that remains on display long after the paint has dried.
2023–26 The Book Years
While all of this was happening, I continued illustrating children's books.
The projects included:
- Tiny Christmas Angel
- I Should Have Known Than to Wear a Black and Yellow Sweater (5-book series)
- Two books from the Nuru Series for an author from Kenya
- A Journey Beyond Worlds
- My Humans Brought a Creature Home
And then came one of my biggest projects: Heidi, a nearly 400-page illustrated book for Generations.org that challenged every skill I had learned along the way. By the end of 2026, I had worked on eleven children's books, with several more still in progress. Not bad for someone who had never planned on becoming an illustrator.
2027 – Full Circle
Somewhere between science, fine arts, psychology, cupcakes, teaching, murals, cafés, freelancing, floral arrangements, and eleven illustrated books, I remembered that unfinished little book from 4th grade.
The one made from stapled sheets of paper. The one that started everything. And so I finally decided to create a story of my own.
In 4th grade, I dreamed of writing and illustrating a book. I just took a few unexpected detours first. And unlike Night & Gale with the Princess. This one will actually be finished.
