Whenever I sit down to create, I see two kinds of images in my head. Sometimes, the image is organized and clearly defined. Other times, it is blurry and unstructured. Either way, the mental image has to go on paper. Soon enough, my room is filled with the greasy smell of oil paint and the swish of a paintbrush or frantic scribble of a pencil. Time gets lost when I get into my flow, and the beginning of another Sleep Token song is the only indication that time has passed. I start with a light hand, with strokes that are barely visible. I block out a body, a face, or a landscape before going in with more pressure: shading and highlighting places that call for it. If a new piece doesn’t turn out the way I want it to, I revise it and rework it – sometimes to the point of destroying it and starting over. I repeat this process until the piece is what I see in my mind. My work balances two extremes: perfection and chaos.  

 

My art draws inspiration from landscapes and dreamscapes, as well as the intensity of metal music and the intricacy of architecture. A central focus of my artistic journey has been exploring themes of overcoming fear, discomfort, anxiety, and personal struggle. I’ve been able to process and express these experiences through my art, and I see college as the next chapter in expanding on these themes.

 

I explore a wide range of subjects in my art, from figure drawing and realism to character design. My preferred mediums are graphite, charcoal, paint, gouache, acrylic, watercolor, ink, and Procreate. I frequently use pencils and oil paint and almost always have them on hand. With pencils, I can easily adjust shading and perfect outlines. It’s fascinating to push oil paints around and blend them until I can instill a foggy, dreamlike quality to my work.  When I use oil paint, I feel connected to great artists in history who have similarly struggled to master the medium. 

 

Art often becomes a way to express my obsessions. I delve deep into topics, especially regarding my favorite bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Ghost, Ice Nine Kills and Sleep Token or games like Star Stable, Fer.al, and Sky Children of the Light. I love creating original characters and stories set in these universes. I’m also fascinated by the intricate worlds in games, books, and films, often getting lost in cinematic universes like Marvel, the Boys, and the Scream movies. It’s exciting to find references and easter eggs that many people don’t bother to investigate. I enjoy being among the first to find Ghost song lyrics that foreshadow the story arc of the main character of the band’s lore. Discovering hidden easter eggs and secret codes fuels my creativity, and I strive to incorporate these layers of storytelling into my art. I like that my art can mean multiple things to many people, even though I have specific topics that I focus on.

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My ultimate goal is to continue using art as a way to connect with others who may have faced similar challenges as my own, and to explore how I can use my work to inspire resilience and hope.