Artist Statement

My life is like a cartoon. Hello my name is Antwain Wilson, my dad Is the reason I got into drawing . As a kid I used to watch him draw characters and he would give them to me to keep. It was really cool to watch his art processes so I tried it out. I fantasized over cartoons, having imaginary friends, pretending to be a cartoon character, daydreaming about my own cartoon shows. Since cartoons It’s not real, I decided to draw and make It real. As an adult I still have those cartoon mindsets, I see everything as I would in a cartoon. Observing people’s personality, Imagining the environment from a cartoon viewpoint, listening to music and picturing a cartoon scene, and hearing dialogues from others helps me visualize a cartoon.
    My main art style is Illustration. I draw mainly characters and some background art. I write my own stories and sketch out story boards of them. When I started making Illustrations, I started  with traditional materials like pencil, pen and paper. I based my art style heavily on Sonic the Hedge hog, and Spider Man, both characters have dynamic poses and cool specials abilities that I liked.  Once I started college, I met a classmate who introduce me to digital art, and from there on I began creating my Illustrations on the computer. I prefer to work digitally because It’s easier for me to makes changes to my Illustrations and also because It gives my art a more professional look.
   
    Three factors influence my illustrations; the ideas, the music, and the motivations. I get ideas from basically anything. Every time I get an idea, when I see artwork, shows, games, or movies I take a picture, note it, or screenshot it.  After developing my ideas I piece together what I want.  The last step is listening to music. The selected music will influence how the scene I am drawing will look. For an example, if I’m listen to rock music with an upbeat tempo, it’s going to be an action Illustration. Listening to music helps me visualize the scene in my head so I can convert it to my art. Lastly, just thinking about what my illustrations will look like gives me the motivation to complete the artwork.
     I’m concentrating on how to incorporate my art into the digital realm. Initially I was overwhelmed by how much software and hardware there Is to learn. It took me a while to get used to it and so far the only thing I’m really good at is illustration. The software programs I use for illustrations are Medibang, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I could have just settled for that but now I want to do more than just draw art, I want to animate. The software I’m now learning to animate with are Adobe After Effects, and Animate.
  
     I am always striving to develop new ideas. I like to try out different techniques with shading, coloring, and line art. For example, for shading  I want to try cross hatching, for colors I want to focus on color palette, and for line art I would like to use texture line art. I also enjoy using new art making tools because It makes me feel like I’m upgrading my art skills and it makes my art look more sophisticated. These processes can be really challenging and frustrating but they payoff so it is worth the struggle.
     I’ve been drawing my whole life and I’m happy at where I’m at. I have gained recognition as being an artist and found an art style that people can see as my own. Although my success is still a long way off, I believe I will achieve my goal to be a great Illustrator. Until then I will continue to grow and learn new things so I become the cartoonist I want to be.

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