Sophomore Madison Elliott has had a love for art her whole life and first started drawing at age nine, taking inspiration from her older sister, who has also been drawing for years.
Elliott’s art style has a consistent focus on realism, which is often described as realistic or photo-like. Unlike other art styles like abstract or surrealism, realism focuses on trying to look like real life as much as possible.
“I like creating realism the most because it is really cool to see my drawings slowly come to life,” Elliott said.
Most of her inspiration for her work comes from other media such as tv shows, books and movies. She captures a character’s personality or essence in specific moments.
“I read or watch TV to find something I would enjoy to create, which usually gets me out of an art slump,” Elliott said.
Elliott’s creative process begins with finding the right reference.
“My creative process is first scrolling for awhile to find good quality pictures, then sketching and then shading. For me shading is really just being messy until I can capture what I want to, which to me is the most important part,” Elliott said.
One of her favorite drawings is her most recent piece which is a drawing of Will Byers from ‘Stranger Things’.
“This is my favorite one because it is the most realistic, but also because I used supplies that my sister had given me, in this instance pastels. It made it feel more personal to me,” Elliott said.
Although she typically plans her pieces, Elliott sometimes takes a more spontaneous approach.
“Most times I plan, especially with what materials I will use and what I am comfortable with. However when doing the Will drawing it was much more a go with the flow piece as I decided to mess with new materials,” Elliott said.
Elliott plans to take art class next year, which will help her skills progress even more, while maintaining her art style.
“Honestly, over time my style remains the same, but it is encouraging to see the progression in how detailed I can get my pieces,” Elliott said.
