Since I was 9 years old, I knew I wanted to be an artist. It wasn’t one of those things you say when you are kid because you usually don’t know what you want to do in your future. Kids often choose a firefighter, police officer, or astronaut but not me. I wanted to draw for the rest of my life. There was no doubt about it.

I would get into trouble with teachers because I would draw rather than work on assignments. Although as a kid, I was a little bit of a trouble maker, I always felt focused and relaxed when I picked up a pencil and drew my favorite characters.

I kept this up through middle school and got accepted into Cicely L. Tyson Arts high school where I met my art teacher, Mr. Coronado. In high school my skills accelerated rapidly as I began drawing realistic images instead of just cartoons. These practices helped me understand how to shade, understand the human form and hone in on my technicality. By junior year I had become my own artist creating works such as “Mother Nature” and “Black Panther”.