Caitlin Cruz is a seventeen-year-old junior who loves drawing and has been in art class for the past two years. She began her artistic journey at the age of nine because at the time, she didn’t have a TV or anything else to keep her busy throughout the day. Caitlin has continued her artistic hobby all of these years because of the satisfaction she gets from adding a new piece of art in her beloved sketchbook.

While many prefer painting and coloring their art, Caitlin is more than happy with the simple look of black and white sketches. Her favorite art style is anime as well as various types of cartoons. She loves creating new characters and sketching various types of wolves and “furries”, which are animals with human-like characteristics. She says that the best part about drawing is when she is able to ink it, going over her lines with a fine point Sharpie or pen, and seeing everything come together, or the feeling of fulfillment when she finally finishes a piece that she has put so much time and effort into.

Besides the extensive amount of time that is put into artwork, being an artist can be extremely tiresome. Curious what she thought, I asked Caitlin what her biggest art-related pet peeve is and she responded, “When people steal my artwork or ask me to draw something with an impossible deadline.”

I asked her what kind of tips she would give people who want to enhance their painting or drawing skills and she said that she would encourage them to watch many different types of tutorials in order to watch how the strokes are done, look at references, and read art books with a variety of artists and styles. She, as well as many other artists, believe that if you try your hardest, you can always get better.