By Mariyah Ramirez
Sophomore Helaena Ebre started taking art seriously at the age of 11. Before that she had been sketching drawings for school assignments and to relieve boredom.
It was Ebre’s artist friends who inspired her to explore the world of art further. Her friends helped her to expand her sketches to be more realistic through focusing on anatomy.
“My friends would tell me that each time I look at my work and complain about how it doesn’t seem as great as I imagined it, that I am actually training my eye and artistic mind to make it look more beautiful,” Ebre said.
During her art journey, Ebre has times where she questions her art process and feels like starting over. Yet, her artist community helps to encourage her in these times whether that be through their social media accounts specifically for their art or in conversations.
Ebre finds it very thrilling to improve her art even if it’s just a small detail. She is always experimenting with different art styles and she is very happy with her progress.
“The hardest art material I’ve tried is colored markers. Though I didn’t like them because they got tedious, having to constantly move my hand back and forth. Also the color gets darker in some spots than others,” Ebre said.
When Ebre is working, she is very focused. During that time, she prefers to be alone and not to be disturbed.
Some current artwork that she is working on is more festive artwork for the holidays approaching like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“Although I would like to keep the details of my next works a secret, they are holiday artwork depicting a snowy or dark night with colored lights,” Ebre said.
Ebre is inspired by many types of art such as animation, vintage posters, cottage aesthetics, and even people she sees on the street. She draws most of her inspiration, however, from video games like Pokemon and Terraria.
Ebre also derives inspiration from her classmates and fellow students.
“A lot of people here have so many aesthetics that are put into their outfits, so I’d say that the Granada students are sometimes my inspiration in my artwork,” Ebre said.
Ebre plans on doing something with art as a career, though she doesn’t know what that is yet. Ebre even plans to start commissions soon.
“I’m selling my artwork for the first time and now that I’m comfortable having a consistent art style, it’s great seeing that people like my art. I’m thrilled. I’m using the money to buy more authentic art materials,” Ebre said.
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