Nicolas Taliaferro Abraham – An Unconventional Man for An Unconventional Profession

“Slow and steady wins the race!”

As a child, I was a late bloomer. I was born with a learning disability. My comprehension of reading, writing, and doing simple math didn’t present itself until I was twelve years old. Since I couldn’t read, the only thing I had as an outlet was the visual medium. Film and TV were my pastime and exposure to the world around me.  My earliest memories are watching films and TV. I watched Star Trek franchises, Star Wars, the BBC’s  Keeping Up Appearances, the BBC’s East Enders (when I was older), Hey Arnold, Batman: The Animated  Series, and the occasional rated R film (under parental supervision).

Over time, I would watch these programs repeatedly to the point that I could remember lines from scenes that I enjoyed. From seeing and listening, I accumulated an array of knowledge. I learned about history, cultures, and most important words. Endless words that I didn’t understand but wanted to know. Once I was given help in school for my academics, I finally learned how to read, write and do math at twelve. One of the first things I did was look up the words that I knew in my head and write down the definitions. Without knowing it, I
accumulated an extensive vocabulary all those years of watching and listening to film and TV. Most words I knew were beyond my grade level my teachers would tell me. A wealth of knowledge that I thought would never help me gave a helping hand to academic excellence from middle school to higher education. My journey to being educated wasn’t conventional. However, watching TV and movies played a small part in helping me on
my journey in knowing who I am and my capabilities.

“What is a costume designer, grandma?”
I have always been good at being imaginative and creative. At age ten, I won a national contest as a K’Nex product tester. The challenge for the competition was to build four things and take pictures of them to be sent to K’Nex. I made scale sizes of a T-Rex, the USS Nautilus, a wheelchair with a functional parachute, and a life-size suit of armor with a detachable helmet. I was one of ten that won the contest. I was given free K’Nex sets for a year to play with and test. I was also interviewed for a newspaper article. It is one of the greatest
achievements of my young life.  Besides building with K-Nex, I drew a lot of the time. I created characters and gave them backstories in my head that I would tell my grandparents. I knew I had a creative mind, but I didn’t know what to do with it. I had hoped to be an inventor. But since I wasn’t proficient in math, I let that idea go very quickly when I was a boy. I then thought of becoming a comic book illustrator since I like to draw and tell stories. But that didn’t satisfy me  either. Then, one day, my grandma told me I should be a costume designer. I asked her, “what’s a costume designer, grandma?”.  She told me what a costume designer does, and something clicked in my head. At twelve years old, that’s when I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. I wanted to be a costume designer.  Once I learned the basics of reading, writing, and math, I turned my efforts to learning about costume design. I
even wrote a paper in middle school about costume design with illustrations and what type of education I needed to become a designer. That became my trajectory to learning about costumes and the schools that can help me achieve my goal. Since college, I have been in a dozen plays as a costume runner and costume assistant. Recently, I have worked on two shorts as a costume designer, script supervisor, and now a voice actor.  I’m ready and eager for the next challenge in my career as a young designer. I have no disillusions about my choice of work and its unconventional way of living. But I love what I do and wouldn’t change a thing. If you are looking for your next collaborator who enjoys the creative process, look no further. I’m your guy. Let’s make something that can outlast us and entertain others at the same time. Thanks for reading!