On every second Thursday of every month, Downtown Los Angeles hosts an art event called, The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. Here, people will find Kris Kehasukjaren sitting along the sidewalk of 5th and Spring Street painting portraits for people.

Kehasukjaren is a 25-year-old San Francisco native, who moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist. Minion Me is his latest project, where he transforms people or any character of their choice into Minions.

“I got the inspiration to base my art on Minions from the movie Despicable Me,” he said. “Mostly everyone I know, from children to middle-aged people, find Minions to be loveable because their character is funny and cute, so I figured I’d start an art project based on Minions.”

With his determination to achieve his dream of becoming a well-known artist, he volunteers most of his time at art gallery events and festivals. His first experience showing his artwork to the public was at the 2013 Comic Con in San Diego.

“I had one week to prepare for the San Diego Comic Con. I made 50 paintings and prepped all this stuff, trying to figure out a system for myself because this was my first event I have ever participated in,” he said. “People at Comic Con loved my paintings and seeing positive feedback was the most important thing to me because then I realized I have a high chance of succeeding with this Minion Me project. I will never forget Comic Con and how successful it was because that was my first event I did with my project and I loved it.”

Ever since San Diego Comic Con, Kehasukjaren has been participating in every art event and festival in Los Angeles. On his free time when he is not at art events, he likes to take a stroll on Venice Beach and paints portraits of minions for people on the beach.

“Tourists love my paintings and they seem so fascinated with how I turned minions into an art work,” he said. “They love to see what they would look like if they were minions and their response after getting painted always surprises me and puts a smile on my face.”

Although painting and art may seem like a relaxing and enjoyable career to pursue, Kehasukjaren often finds his dream challenging and loses hope in himself. Despite all the struggles he feels, he continues to chase his dreams to keep his promise to his father and his best friend.

“Two years ago, I lost my father and my best friend to cancer within a time span of six months,” he said. “That was the hardest time for me because I felt like I had lost everything overnight. I could not eat, sleep or have a creative mind because I was in such a slump.”