Growing up I always loved to draw; I drew on anything I could get my hands on although my mom wasn’t too happy when she saw Crayola markers all over the walls and my siblings' faces. My mom still encouraged me to continue drawing but rather on a sketchbook. As I got older I continued to use sketchbooks to express myself and to practice my drawing skills since I still lacked in many areas. Once I got to high school I decided to take art seriously that was where I discovered that my practice does pay off after drawing a realistic still life. I would create still lifes with character figures so the composition was interesting and this led to a newfound love for drawing things that I see. Most of the pieces I made during my years in high school are of these figures or my cello since I like seeing my improvement over the years. Seeing my skills improve left me wanting to do better and continue practicing realism. I first started only using graphite but then moved to using charcoal which was full of texture and made my drawing have more depth. I kept experimenting with new techniques and mediums after trying them out they would leave me with excitement about what I could do with them next. I would create self-portraits every school year to see my improvement each year. Painting was something I found challenging for me ever since the first I tried it in 7th grade. I decided to continue to build up my drawing skills for a while longer before I try to paint again. In high school was the next time I painted and all my hard work paid off. I realized that skill translates between mediums since drawing is the foundation of art making. Although I have been on the verge of giving up I always remember that there is failure just means that there is an opportunity to improve and it will always end in an improvement to the skills I have been cultivating throughout my life. I am someone who hasn't been able to experience actual love for something until I was in my third year of high school. I realized that art was the only thing making me happy even with all the obstacles I have gone through. I have been struggling with depression leading me to slowly loss the will to live but art was the only thing that has been a light to get me through it. I have started taking medication for it and I feel a lot better.

Physiatrists diagnosed me with depression; I was shocked when I received the news after all mental illness is rarely talked about in my family. My parents viewed mental illness as something only crazy people have, so this led to them dismissing the signs of depression that I showed. I went undiagnosed for six years and by the time my therapist told me, I was already in a downward spiral to the point where I was giving up on life. To me, life seemed meaningless and I wanted to be in an empty void of nothingness where I could finally not exist. Getting medication for depression and anxiety was exciting but, difficult because I had to go on a waiting list to meet a physiatrist. After going through a long process for months I finally got an appointment and was prescribed medication. Antidepressants are tricky since they don’t work right away and they don’t always find the right one on the first try, so now I was on medication that I didn’t know what side effects I would get. Concentrating on my work was already a daunting task before getting medication but adding on side effects that made me sleepy during the day was torture. I couldn’t stop procrastinating my work since I would always fall asleep while trying to do my work. I had to start taking them before going to sleep to let them take effect while sleeping but I was still almost falling asleep during class. This led me no other choice but to lessen the workload of my classes so I decided to drop an AP class because I didn’t want to keep procrastinating my work. Even if I did want to have rigorous courses I knew that what was best for my mental health was to lower the workload I had. Although my journey with depression is far from over; I know that seeking help from others was the best choice I made. This contributed to my dreams since I want to help the world by being in the medical field while also creating art. My dream is to be a medical illustrator and they draw out medical issues making it easier for people other than doctors to understand the problem. My goal is to first get my bachelor's in fine arts with a minor in biology to later go to graduate school for medical illustration.