Wildfire
Devin H.
-
I don’t have a lot of formal art education, besides multiple drawing and painting classes in school, a lot of my art experience is self-taught. I started drawing simply as a hobby when I was younger, and through instructional books, videos, and inspiration from other artists, I’ve developed my own personal style. Since I focus mainly on drawing people and designing characters, I’ve spent a lot of time and effort towards improving my anatomy skills. Finding instructional books and videos on anatomy and poses to help me has been a large part of my process. I try to represent people in a semi-realist way, where the anatomy is accurate, but the illustrations are more stylistic, like something in a graphic novel. I believe this allows me to be more creative when designing characters and creating their look. By looking at the progression of my art over time, I can see how my style and skills have evolved and improved, and see what I still need to work on. I still like to draw as a creative outlet in addition to creating art for class assignments, as I find it important to have an outlet where I can experiment creatively and not worry about turning it in for a grade.
When the pandemic caused me to have lots of free time and a variety of feelings I needed to express somehow, I constantly found myself turning to art. Over time, exploring different ways of drawing and painting from chalk art on my sidewalk to a paint pen collage of every emotion I went through, I realized how passionate I had become about creating art, and I knew I wanted to keep doing this. Finding the colors, shapes, words, or even looks to show what was going on in my mind meant I didn’t have to keep bottling up my emotions, and it was fun. I found more opportunities to immerse myself in art and improve my skills, like a four week summer program I completed at Ringling College of Art and Design. This program taught me so much, from simply learning new technologies to create with, to finding new media I loved, and even the important skill of taking critiques. I was also able to find a community here of students who shared my passion for making art, and the creativity we all exhibited inspired each of us to push our art to our best.
Though art has been a hobby and creative outlet of mine throughout my life, the piece displayed is for an assignment, because I believe some of my best work has been completed for these classes. My art has thrived in these environments because my teachers have pushed me to explore through creative inquiry, as well as learn and grow through critique.
For this piece, I went through an adaptive process, starting without a final product in mind and letting each step guide me towards the end piece. I felt particularly inspired by California's wildfires, and the juxtaposition of nature and destruction, so I created a piece representing these ideas.
-
If you were to ask me what one of my defining qualities is, I would say my creativity. Through creative exploration, I've been able to push myself out of my comfort zone and overcome anxieties. Expressing myself and having an outlet for my emotions helps me become my best self and grow my confidence.
