I plan to bring people together with the art I create. I am an illustration major with a minor in visual design and one day I plan to illustrate my own graphic novels. In these graphic novels I want to unit the people who read them and prove that art does not belong to a specific group, political party, or a certain ethnicity. I want everyone to be happy and enjoy something I create. While this goal might not spread world wide, I hope it is enough to impact the lives that need it most. Growing up as an art kid taught me many things lots of people are closed minded to. That there is good in everyone, Christian’s, atheists, republicans, democrats, immigrants, and natives. Being a part of one thing doesn’t make you more right than someone else, it doesn’t make you better than them either. That’s the beautiful thing about art, it belongs to no one and everyone, being a Christian myself some of the most genuine and kind people I’ve met have been art heists or had different opinions than me. But we don’t argue about that because loving your neighbor and being kind to everyone is universal, there is no exception to human kindness. I want to illustrate these things in my graphic novel, I want people to criticize less and talk more. The human experience is about connection and relationships, I feel like many people have lost that along the way. Below I have attached three artworks of mine. Two of them are done digitally and the other one was done with chalk pastels. The chalk pastel piece is supposed to represent human emotion, pink as love, yellow as happiness, and the dull color as depression. The dinosaur skull is a piece done in ode to the new spinosaurus spruce found in Africa, that is why the eye socket is in the shape of the continent. And the final piece is of me and my father at a shotgun competition together, this piece is supposed to represent family and the importance of bonding.

I am an illustration major with a minor in visual design. In the future I hope to illustrate my own comic books, until then I plan to do commissions and get my name out there while working on my graphic novel as a hobby until I gain enough money and prevalence to switch to my graphic novel full time. This scholarship will help me pay for college, I currently go to Jacksonville University and tuition was raised, I won’t be able to attend all four years without aid from scholarships. This scholarship will cover a small amount, but it will be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your consideration as you read my essay.

The dinosaur I drew is the Spinosaurus mirabilis. The spinosaurus being my favorite dinosaur, learning there was a new specie of them found in Africa I was very excited and I drew the skull of the animal. The spinosaurus has been my favorite dinosaur since I was 12 years old when I first watched Jurassic Park 3, I was so enthralled that it leaned on the amphibious side. Unlike the classic spinosaurus skull, the mirabilis has a crest on its head that was extremely eye catching to the paleontologists. “Mirabilis” directly transplant from Latin to mean “astonishing”, which is directly correlated to the crest. In every article I read the paleontologists went on about how striking and dramatic the crest was. The classic spinosaurus, spinosaurus aegyptiacus, fossils have been found in places that were once coastal. They also adorned the large sail along the spine that is believed to be for display, or to regulate body temperature. With the recent discovery of the Mirabilis, clues on where the spinosaurus’ lived has changed. The first spinosaurus was found in North Africa, scientists believed that they were semi-aquatic animals that dove for prey. However, the Mirabilis being found in Niger puts a different perspective on things. 95 million years ago, the Sahara Desert was 500 km from the nearest coast, meaning they lived inland as well. The new speculation is that both specie of Spinosaurus lived near rivers. For many projects I’ve drawn the spinosaurus, once in third grade after a test, then again in my oceanography class my junior year of high school. This piece itself is digital art done on my iPad using Procreate. In place of the eye socket is the continent of Africa since this is where both spinosaurus were found. No ai was used during production as I believe computer generated images have no place in art.

I am currently working towards a degree in illustration. Many people will hear this and say, “you won’t make money.” Or “you will be replaced by AI,” along with much more. However my goal with this career isn’t money centered, if I wanted to be rich I would have gone into STEM. I want to make an impact with what I create, one day I plan on illustrating my own graphic novels and giving people stories they can enjoy. My faith goes hand in hand with my ambitions, I am of Christian faith and what I want to do is create stories that everyone can enjoy, any denomination, and political party, and everyone from different backgrounds. I strongly believe art should bring people together, that it belongs to everyone and not just a specific group of people. And that’s why AI will never be able to truly replace human art, a computer does not understand the human experience, it has never lived a life full of emotions, rage, fear, happiness, and love. Art impacts people more than many want to believe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian author that lived in the 1800s was shaken to his core by an art piece. The piece was of Jesus Christ in the grave during the three days before he rose again. Dostoyevsky, being a Christian himself found his faith shaken by this artwork because he was looking at his savior dead, human in every sense of the word. Most depictions of Jesus at this time was of him being alive, both fully God and fully man. Or of him rising from the grave and coming back, never like the piece Dostoyevsky encountered. While farfetched in theory, that colors and shapes on a canvas can affect the human brain to such an extent seems unreasonable. I’ve grown up in a home where my parents always supported my goals and dreams, they didn’t understand art much until one piece I made. It was a drawing of a gun stalk that was etched with two people sitting side by side and looking out at a field with deer and ducks flying. The two people was a picture of me and my dad when we were at nationals. I posted it on my Instagram and my dad posted it on Facebook, lots of people said they felt something while looking at the piece. A couple of people said that it brought them to tears. That’s when it clicked with my parents, “Art is supposed to make you feel”. A good drawing/painting will have proof of the human soul. I want people to see that soul again, my goal is not to force my religion onto anyone who reads my stories. But for them to see it and understand that there is a complexity deeper than pictures on a page. I want to show people who may be giving up on creative endeavors because of AI that this is still possible. I want to inspire a new generation of storytellers to not give up on their dreams, that if you put heart and soul into your work you will go farther than you will ever imagine. I want people to be able to enjoy what they choose to do for the rest of their lives, to fall in love with the process and not the result. After all, if you try for perfection every time, you will be doing less of what you love.