This post was written by a member of our Q42 group, Tyler, a 16 year old pansexual trans male (ftm) and an incredible artist!
Hi, I'm Tyler, just your average guy with a big love for art and self expression! I really like video games, musicals, cartoons and anime.
I tend to listen to My Chemical Romance, Twenty One Pilots, Panic! At The Disco, The Clash, and loadssssss of musical soundtracks!
My main interests are My Hero Academia, Tokyo Ghoul, just Studio Ghibli on general, Gravity Falls, Danganronpa, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Be More Chill, and Heathers. I am into many fandoms, also including the furry fandom!
As an artist, I feel more comfortable drawing cats, wolves and foxes, since I have been doing them for around five years now. I first got into art because of the movie 'How To Train Your Dragon', as well as the game 'Five Nights At Freddy's' and I loved it so much, I just knew I had to make fanart. From there, I began to read Warrior Cats, a book series which is honestly amazing.
I began to look into fanart of the book series and came across MAPs (Multi Animator Projects) and also PMVs (Picture Music Videos) for the books. I was so inspired by these and I tried out animating and making small projects for myself. It has only been within the past few weeks I have decided to try and take a step forward with my art and try out something new.
My art style is more on the cartoony side, influenced by both anime and also the style of artists I looked up to when I was younger.
Art helps me express myself and lets me be free and creative. I get to portray myself as anything I want to be and I get to have the freedom to escape reality by creating characters and expressing myself through them.
As an LGBT person, the concept of free expression is honestly such a good thing, and I cannot express my own need for it. It helps me a lot to celebrate what makes me me and shows I am happy and proud of who I am. Not everyone will be accepting or understanding, but through my art I am able to stand up for myself and back myself up. I won't stand down, I won't be forced to be someone I'm not. My art gives me a pathway to show who I am and stand by that.
I also create pieces of vent art. These are pieces in which a person expresses how they feel through the form of a drawing. These pieces of art help me manage my own feelings and understand myself. I am a person who suffers from anxiety, half of my vents are about not being good enough. It allows me to have a visual representation of how I feel so I can see a metaphor for my own emotions, (drowning, for example.)
Art gives me the chance to share with others how I feel so they can help me. There are times when people are hurting but 'cannot describe it' or 'cannot put it into words' and for me, drawing is a solution. I use it as a way of reaching out for help, so others can know what I'm going through. Without art, I don't know what I'd do. It has helped and played a huge part in my mental health, aiding me in my journey.
Art during the lockdown has been very fun for me! Currently, I have been through an entire sketchbook, and I am close to finishing my second. I set targets for myself, trying to learn how exactly to draw humans since it has always been something I've wanted to do.
I am glad I managed to have the chance to practice and also develop my own style and artistic abilities during this time. I like to switch between digital and also traditional forms of art, meaning I don't forget how to use one (which I have done when I didn't use my ipad for two months).
Overall, the lockdown has been rather good, letting me explore and try something new for once.
I'm very tempted to become an animator in the future. I have seen multiple animated movies, and also projects stand-alone animators have done and I have been so inspired to try and do my own animations. I have done some, but nowhere near up to the quality as bigger animators.
I am also considering opening commissions since I would really really like to earn a bit of money by doing what I love. However, before I do, I know I need to keep on working and improving my style! So, I'll have to see what the future holds for me and my art.
To those considering to be an artist, do it. Honestly, please just do it. In the art community, there is no such thing as 'bad art', everything is unique and personal, there are no two pieces of art alike. You get self expression and fun all packed into one thing.
If you try drawing something and it doesn't work out? Try again! Keep practicing over and over and over again. Nothing ever works out the first time. I know it may sound cliche, but it really is true, practice makes perfect. Just stay positive, stay hopeful, and believe in yourself. You can do it!
If people would like to see my art, I have an instagram handle @Deciphered_Inky where I post every now and then. It is just a range of things from sketches, to projects, and also fully completed pieces of art.
