Hiya
My name is Nhi To and I am, as of now, a senior here at CU Boulder. After having some "friendly" discussions with my family about my future path for many years, I am now finally majoring in art. Growing up in North Denver, I was not given many opportunities to expand or afford any art classes, so I self-taught myself in as many different mediums as I can get my hands on. I have ranged from working with graphite/traditional to watercolors, to photography/film, to digital/illustrator, to even 3-D sculptures. Although I can't say that I've "mastered" in all types of mediums, I can at least say I have spread out to enough mediums to create a piece that comes to mind. I can also say that I hate working with charcoal as well after my experiences in my drawing courses.
I have taken a few art classes that were offered in school. In elementary, I took a basic art class that went over the color wheel and finger painting.....That was about it. Later in middle school, I went to a school where they focused more on "college prep", so there weren't any art classes offered (or just basic electives in general). In high school, art was finally offered in my junior year, which was digital art. I already had some background in Photoshop, so this class was practicing skills that I was a complete amateur at. By my senior year of high school, I was moved up into studio arts where I was able to practice on all mediums that the school had to offer (which was not much either, but it was at least something).
Aside from locking myself up in my room and playing video games all day to avoid any irl social interaction, art is another way for me to escape reality. As cliche that may sound, I live in constant stress with trying to balance school and family. I would say that a big part of my artworks that I've created has come from the idea of "escape" or living a reality that I dream of rather than the one I am in now.
When creating or even coming up with what I want to do in my sketches, it usually takes a lot of time for me to feel inspired or have that energy of wanting to create something. I follow this philosophy that if I, myself, am not happy with what I created, then it's going to get redone or trashed. This mindset is the reason why I am in an "art block" a majority of the time, so don't follow my philosophy. To get away from my art block, I usually draw many different sketches either in my journals, sticky notes, and even textbooks (if they aren't rented of course). My dream is to be able to work in the gaming industry and take part in visual designs, so most of my sketches are more anime/manga/gaming influenced.
I have lots to improve. I want to get better at sticking to one project and completing it as well. I want to work on more mediums and get better with them as well (and at least try to "like" using charcoal).