about ARIMARUN

Meet Arimarun, better as Meo or Ari, a Malaysian artist who blends traditional sketching and linework with digital coloring. Their journey began at 9 years old, drawing with nothing but a mouse on MS Paint on their mom’s old laptop. Inspired by Hatsune Miku and the beloved local series Boboiboy, Meo discovered a love for creating anime-inspired characters, started as a simple hobby and eventually became a serious pursuit, leading them to invest in proper art tools and begin sharing their works online around 2014.For years, Meo was best known for their traditional works, using colored pencils as main medium. But by 2021, curiosity led them to explore digital art, and today their style combined both worlds; traditional linework infused with the coloring of digital tools. Their medium of choice, iBisPaint X, helps them seamlessly merge the two, resulting in a mixed medium aesthetic.

Meo’s art finds its home across social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and YouTube, where they’ve built a supportive community of followers. Their creative world often revolves around their original project HexatoniX, an indie rock band made up of six characters; Nouri, Kai, Aina, L, Hairi, and Rosie, along with their mascots Ari and Mar, who act as guardians of their life journey. And while original characters are their main focus, Meo also delights in exploring fandoms such as Vocaloid (especially Miku), Genshin Impact, Vtubers, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventurein creating fan arts.Beyond their personal projects, Meo has reached some exciting milestones in Malaysia’s art scene. In 2024, their illustrations were featured as official Vtuber Showcase standees for Jun Yong-Ho (@66JunVT) and Hora Horangi (@HoraHorangiVT) at Animangaki, one of the country’s biggest ACG conventions. That same year, the year before and this year, they were also part of Comic Fiesta’s 100 Days Countdown, a massive community project where their artwork was displayed physically during the event. On top of that, Meo has brought their craft to local university events, hosting live commission booths and selling art prints, creating opportunities to connect directly with fans and clients.What makes Meo’s journey inspiring is their constant drive to learn and grow, even while balancing the life of a full-time student. With a deep passion for storytelling through characters and a commitment to pushing their art further, Meo is an artist whose path is just beginning and one worth following as they continue to share their creativity with the world.