C

Growing up, art was something I’d always loved. Over time, as my schedule became busier and busier, all of my time was spent on other extracurriculars and classes. Even though I tried to draw on the side, my parents discouraged me from pursuing art further. But it all changed when I became a first-year staffer on my high school's newspaper, the Epic.

Initially, I thought I would only be writing stories, but when we entered our Issue 1 production cycle, I learned that the Epic was so much more than that. We started off with “dummying”, or drawing out the layout of the pages and sketching out graphics for each story. As I read the outline of each story, ideas for an accompanying graphic quickly came to my mind. I fell in love with this new form of art and the exhilarating sense of creative freedom. Since I’d dabbled in traditional art before, I quickly translated my experience to creating graphics and illustrations for our publication. 

I began voicing my ideas more during the dummying process, and these ideas turned into over 20 unique graphics and pages, ranging from Kpop poster-esque layouts to interesting comics. Even when I was overwhelmed with my junior year courseload and activities, I always put my full effort into the Epic. When I couldn’t finish a piece during class time, I drew in-between classes and late at night. Still, I enjoyed every moment of it; art became my creative outlet and stress-reliever. 

While I have no definitive style, I'm a perfectionist—I value the importance of every single stroke, and I hope it shows in my work. I’m grateful for the ability to explore different avenues of art through the Epic, including digital art, vector-based Illustrator graphics, and photography. Yet no matter what medium I choose, I always use visuals to bring across a certain point or emotion that resonates powerfully with the audience, especially since most readers tend to gravitate to any visuals that reside on a page. I've learned that art is a universal language. Thus, a visual accompanying a story needs to bring its words to life in a compelling and understandable way.
 

Looking back on this past year, I’m most proud of my growth as an artist. While I know my work is nowhere near perfect, it’s fulfilling to see people look and point at my illustrations when they pick up the Epic. Most importantly, I love being a part of something bigger than I am, and I’m looking forward to being on the Ed-Board as design editor next year!