I have lived my life pretty much revolved around art and the process of creating art. My interest in art was sparked by a couple main influences: Bob Ross, and video games. I started watching Bob Ross on YouTube when I was 12, and began painting the same year. After that, I discovered some of my favorite video games I’ve ever played. Don’t Starve is a very visually distinct game, and I latched onto the art style. Throughout my middle school years, I began copying the Don’t Starve style and then progressively developed my own style and an interest in art as a whole, as well as video game development. Another very early influence was the video game Epic Mickey. Pieces of concept art are available in the game as collectibles, and that sparked something in me as well. All of these influences combined made me fascinated in concept art, character design, and telling stories through art in general. Since then, I’ve made plenty of my own stories, and self-taught myself many art techniques to get better before I was able to take art classes of my own in high school and college. Now, at 19, I am well on my way to becoming the sum of my childhood goals and dreams. I plan to never stop learning about art, and make art central in my life for the rest of my days.
Camryn McIlrath
