Hello, my name is Diego Rafael Herrera-Banchs, and I guess you can say (well, at least my mom has been saying) I've been an artist all my life. She actually has real, certified documentation about my abilities as a toddler. And, it has been my mother who has invested in my creativity and has allowed me to pursue the arts, without any doubt! I give credit to my mother; she must have sensed it, and I guess that's why she named me Diego. But when it comes to art, it's about practice and staying motivated. In everything I have focused on during my education from kindergarten and up to my senior year in high school, I can honestly state that it was all me. I am currently a Senior in Dallas, Texas, I am an ink and paper artist, but I'm also making my transition into graphic design. I freelance with a group of artist on-line, and now and then they call me up to do some frames for them. I just wrapped up my first comic book called Dexter Dogman, a black-and-white sequential art piece, based on high school teens and siblings. With all the chaos going on around us, I wanted to create a piece that lightens up our surroundings and makes us chuckle and feel good. I stayed focused and motivated and didn't lose sight of the final product. My goals are to have a family, but before that, I need to be able to take care of myself first. That's where college comes in; becoming an art teacher has inspired me to think about how I can assist our youth in their own creative endeavors. My own peers have told me that they appreciate the way I instruct them during our AP Art class, so in a sense, they are the ones who have inspired me! I plan to pursue my Art Studio degree with a teacher certification. I have also expressed interest in pursuing my Master's in Fine Arts. Ultimately, becoming a university professor, of course, this will also take patience and time, but most importantly, money. I plan to work during my first year in college, although my parents are teachers, financial aid was not nearly enough to cover my first year. Currently, I am a certified lifeguard for the YMCA and plan to continue this line of work during the summer and the school year. This definitely starts with financial support, and I would appreciate the opportunity to represent Kay Sykes Scholarship.

Hello, my name is Diego Rafael Herrera-Banchs, and I guess you can say (well, at least my mom has been saying) I've been an artist all my life. She actually has real, certified documentation about my abilities as a toddler. And, it has been my mother who has invested in my creativity and has allowed me to pursue the arts, without any doubt! I give credit to my mother; she must have sensed it, and I guess that's why she named me Diego. But when it comes to art, it's about practice and staying motivated. In everything I have focused on during my education from kindergarten and up to my senior year in high school, I can honestly state that it was all me. I am currently a Senior in Dallas, Texas, I am an ink and paper artist, but I'm also making my transition into graphic design. I freelance with a group of artist on-line, and now and then they call me up to do some frames for them. I just wrapped up my first comic book called Dexter Dogman, a black-and-white sequential art piece, based on high school teens and siblings. With all the chaos going on around us, I wanted to create a piece that lightens up our surroundings and makes us chuckle and feel good. I stayed focused and motivated and didn't lose sight of the final product. My goals are to have a family, but before that, I need to be able to take care of myself first. That's where college comes in; becoming an art teacher has inspired me to think about how I can assist our youth in their own creative endeavors. My own peers have told me that they appreciate the way I instruct them during our AP Art class, so in a sense they are the ones who have inspired me! I have also expressed interest in pursuing my Master's in Fine Arts. Ultimately, becoming a university professor, of course, this will also take patience and time, but most importantly, money. I plan to work during my first year in college, although my parents are teachers, financial aid was not nearly enough to cover my first year. Currently, I am a certified lifeguard for the YMCA and plan to continue this line of work during the summer and the school year. This definitely starts with financial support, and I would appreciate the opportunity to represent Al Luna's legacy.

Hello, my name is Diego Rafael Herrera-Banchs, and I guess you can say (well, at least my mom has been saying) I've been an artist all my life. Well, for as long as I can remember. I guess that's why my mother named me Diego, she must have sensed it. I am currently a Senior in Dallas, Texas, and after taking a look at Phillip's work, he and I would definitely have so much in common. I am also an ink and paper kinda of artist, and I'm also making my transition into graphic design. I freelance with a group of artist on-line, and now and then they call me up to do some frames for them. I just wrapped up a comic book called Dexter Dogman, a black-and-white sequential art piece, based on high school teens and siblings. I plan to work during my first year in college, although my parents are teachers, financial aid was not nearly enough to cover my first year. Currently, I am a certified lifeguard for the YMCA and plan to continue this line of work during the summer and the school year. My goals are to have a family, but before that, I need to be able to take care of myself first. That's where college comes in, becoming an art teacher at least for the first 5 years after college, and then move towards a Master's in Fine Arts. Ultimately, becoming a university professor. This definitely starts with financial support, and I would appreciate the opportunity to represent Phillip's legacy.

The art medium I use is mainly drawing, I've been drawing since I was 3 and for a long time it was the only medium I partook in. Drawing to me like many others is considered a form of self expression; being an artist you think things that others wouldn't, going against the status quo. How ever I mainly just draw things I like and have no deeper meaning to it other than being something I enjoy doing and will continue to do. I have been developing constantly, trying new things, drawing new things. Making sure I'm always on the cusp of a new revolutionary way of doing anything. I developed characters, original and borrowed and started making sceans of them interacting. This with the combination of reading comics naturaly progressed into wanted to make my own comics. Now in the beginning they were bad, but the soul and essance of what a comic is slowly started to manifest. I would start projects and never finish them, I haden't graspt how to write a proper story let alone a comic strip, so writing was my next step to continue my development. I studied and took advice form some of Bray Bradberry's many interviews, he inspired me and I began to write alot more short storys and just more in general, assighnments in class, jornaling, even practicing cursive to better get into the love that comes with the written word. Once I was able to write a decent story I began making storys with premade characters and characters part of existing propertys I enjoyed like Sonic the hedgehog, Five Nights at Freddys, Pokemon, ect. But the main issue I face with this was that I needed to create something original. An original character part of an original world, with an original story. Now that for anyone is hard, but having past experiance and newly found skills in developing and creating things. I was ready for the challange and began with old ideas first, seeing what could be used, cut, kept, and revised. from apocalypse, to everyday life, my ideas had no bound in terms of what kind of story I wanted to make. But since I had discoverd the Peanuts strip by Charles M. Schulz I wanted to make my newest comic like that. So I created Dexter Dogman, witch followed a dog-man and his everyday life in the modern day.

The inspiration behind this track was to create a melancholic atmosphere that would expand as the song continued, as if you were lost in a dream. I was inspired by Kyū Sawamura, an indie composer who has worked on many projects that I have enjoyed. I was inspired by a track by the same name(kind and fair), and I wanted to capture the same essence of the track while still being original. The DAW(Digital Audio Work I used was Fl studios and I mainly used soundfonts; I added soft sounding instruments like an : Acoustic piano, Acoustic bass, an Organ, fantasia, ect, all to add a comforting soft tone accented by a high pitched music box that plays the main motif. I only used specific instruments from the SEGA Genesis's catalog; wanting it to give the impression that it was coming from a game system you played during your childhood, giving it a sort of nostalgic feeling, going back to the dream like aesthetic the song encapsulates. I am a big fan of the SEGA genesis myself, especially the Sonic the Hedgehog sound track, so that also inspired my decision to make this song. I wanted it to be like a level from Sonic, having the main essence of the track be adventurous, but also having a soft tone to make it feel like a dream, giving it its own identity to differentiate itself from others. I wanted it to sound like a whimsical dream circus a child would imagine. To achieve this I thought back to my own childhood and tried to recreate the feeling of playing your favorite video game and hearing it for the first time. Then when I wanted to give the song an ‘edge’so I added drums to accent the already established bass line as if you were going in deeper into this dream, making it more rhythmic and defining itself as a place you are in rather than entering; giving it a sense of adventure but also a sharpness to the wonderland like dreamscape. I added a soft ambiance widening the space giving it a grander sense of scale. And when I reached the end of the song I gradually took away instruments to where it was just the piano and music box to create a fleeting feeling, like time was up, and at the end I abruptly stopped on an unresolved note to create tension and the feeling of waking up.

I am inspired by the experiences I have, and the many breif yet special moments I share with others and myself. Art has always been a way for me to process my feelings and understand my mind, as well as the world as a whole. Taking life day by day is what makes it so impactful and special, and if you look for it you'll be inspired by it.