Art has always been a fascinating facet of societies. It can be a window into an artist’s soul, or simply an evocation of the emotions that are innate to humanity. One aspiring artist by the name of Darryl McCoy who currently attends Wilcox High School spends her spare time creating her own art. McCoy’s preferred medium is very traditional, using not much more than paper, pens, pencils, and markers. Though that may not sound like very much, the tools really can provide a lot of room for a variety of products. With enough time and effort, some very powerful pieces can be produced. McCoy had always had a fascination with art, even from as far back as about third grade. It wasn’t until about sixth grade though that she had decided to take it into her own hands to manifest her own art.

One consistent source of art that McCoy could always turn to was television, more specifically anime. As a young child, she had aspired to create art as vivid, detailed, and as expressive as the anime she saw on television. Another source for an in-depth look at art styles had been YouTube, it was one of the main sources on the internet to access art and tutorials. Instagram too was an equally viable resource for learning the arts. On these platforms, she could learn certain art techniques or receive inspiration for her own art.

In the past, she had more of a cartoonish sort of style, but currently, she has her sights set on more ambitious goals. She wants to start drawing more realistic artwork, and with the right dedication and mind frame, she’ll no doubt be able to achieve anything she sets her mind to. The reasoning why drawing more realistically might be a bit more difficult is because realistic drawing is rigid in what it is supposed to look like. But when an artist chooses to stylize their art, there is usually a little more wiggle room for exaggeration of certain aspects of the creation.
A different medium and style that McCoy has recently started to dabble more in, is digital art. What separates digital art from traditional art is that digital art already exists as a file on the computer and is composed and concocted within the computer, whereas traditional art is drawn on the paper and exists as a physical copy that anyone can hold. “I’ve been working on a short film to submit to submit to the Disney teen animation festival,” there are many different frontiers of digital art, but the animation seems to be a field that interests McCoy more.

If you are just starting out and looking for a couple tips about art, McCoy luckily has you covered. One of the first pieces of advice from McCoy is to consistently practice. “My advice to a beginning artist is to consistently practice over and over again” when you try to create art regularly the process helps you make progress in some sense or another. The artist’s mantra seems to be practice practice practice. Understandably so, with that McCoy leaves with another piece of artistic wisdom — “use other art and aspects of life as a reference for drawing your own art, this can even include the human body, whatever helps you get comfortable drawing more.”