1 Here We Walk

Here is the part where we walk. I use not only my legs to walk, but I use my hands to walk. My brain controls where I walk and when I walk. Hi, I'm Quai and this is my story. Starting the journey to become an artist and grow as a person definitely is not easy. It takes a lot of balance, physically and mentally. Goals that come with being an artist are definitely hard to reach. There are steps of growth that you have through to become an artist. On your way to become an artist you will go through many challenges as you are trying to get to the top of your goals. It's kinda like that one house from UP. You start at the bottom and you work for the growth, while you also challenge yourself for growth. It takes a lot of wisdom and dignity to be able to fully produce the concept art that you want to acquire.

One thing that I can do that many people can't is too sit down and brainstorm for hours. It takes motivation and inspiration too keep working toward your goals. Once I sit down most of my creativity starts flowing. Artist block will happen sometimes and that is the most annoying thing. "How do I deal with artist block?" you may ask. Well, what I do is I will listen to music, look at pictures of things that I like, and go for a walk. If I can't go on a walk I will look out my window because I have a beautiful nature scape outside my window. Another thing I recommend is too change your environment. Don't always try to draw cooped up in the same space. It gets toxic and hurtful for the mind. A change of environment helps not only you, but your brain. When you change your space you want to make sure you have natural lighting or very bright lighting. Sunshine is a good source of lighting and if your drawing at night, a LED lightbulb desk lamp works just as well.

I remember the first piece I made. Let me start by saying, I'm a graffiti-style artist that is only in high school. I do understand that I will have more opportunities in college because that's when people start becoming serious about drawing and your style of drawing. Now you might be asking yourself how I got into graffiti-style. I got into graffiti by experimenting. It was all part of experimenting with different media's, different style, even the different time of day that I would draw. One sudden small change can change a whole lot.

The first thing I ever tried to draw was animals. I wasn't really into it because it got old. I tried drawing people, landscapes, and cartoons. It didn't fit my personality and it wasn't something that I could grow off. When you choose a style of drawing you wanna keep in mind and ask yourself if you can grow off this. You wanna choose a style that will help you grow, progress, and be interested in for a very long time.

I asked myself 2 simple questions. All you need is 2 simple questions. One of those questions is "Am I gonna be interested in this 5 years from now?" The second question is "If I do this for the next 20 or so years am I growing off it?" Now, it's okay to not know that right now in the stage that you are at but you wanna keep those in mind because those are your resources.

The first piece I made when I learned I was into graffiti-style was a koi fish drawing with music notes going down the middle and clocks. The koi fish represent flow of freedom because there calm fish. I did the music notes and clocks because it represents progression and growth. It took me about 12 hours to do. I listened to chill lo-fi while I was at it because it was laid back and gave me the motivation to keep going. When you draw, you just gotta keep your mind open and your eyes open.