What was your second source of inspiration?
Around then, I was also really into Calvin and Hobbes. In one comic strip, Calvin’s parents want him to pose a certain way for pictures. He smiles for the picture, but once his parents take the photo, he changes his face and looks really silly. In Me/HAHA, I wanted to depict myself being silly—not posing for anyone, and just being myself.
What was your working process?
I worked on this for three hours per week at an after-school art class. From start to finish, it took roughly 50 hours. Once I had the idea, my teacher took my photo, which I used as a reference. My teacher helped me create a grid on the paper I used, and then I made a sketch using pencil. I used color pencils to fill in the base colors, then mid tones, and then unusual colors like purples and greens. The sheet of paper I used was red. Red is a loud color, and this piece is meant to be loud.
What’s your artistic philosophy?
I want to create images that a viewer could look at forever. I want there to always be something new to find. I want viewers to be able to make up their own stories from what I’ve made, and I want my art to be open-ended and up to the viewer.
What advice do you have for young artists like yourself?
When you look outside, you can find beauty in the sky and the trees, basically anything you see. I think creating art is giving back to that beauty. But art also adds flavor to life, to the beauty found in life. Art can exaggerate and add something more.