When it comes to art, not everyone can have the talent to pick a style and be able to draw what they see in their head. It can be a challenging task for some people because they are not able to draw what they see and perfect a style of art that they so love. But just because some people are not able to be great at art, this just is not the case for Gabe.

Gabe highlights that what really got him into drawing and art was that his aunt was a very good artist and since she had been a bit closer to our age, it was a cool experience to follow her similar footsteps.

“I was never particularly good at any sports,” Gabe said. “But my aunt was the earliest influence for me to start drawing because she was very talented. I wanted to try my best to take on the skill.”

He also mentions that he was persuaded to try to get into sports, but nothing really stuck out for him. Gabe spoke a lot about practicing and how he got to learn how to draw at a good rate.

“I really started to develop my skill back in middle school,” Gabe said. “I really taught myself for a while. I never had a formal class until I had gotten to Prep, but I felt as if I had been ahead of the class.”

Gabe highlighted to me about an award he won for the “Best Artist” back in eighth grade. He now has a plaque with his name on it in the halls of the Saint Luke’s School. But when I referred to him as an Artist, he didn’t call himself one.

“ An Artist is someone who is good at all forms of art,” he says. “ I am more oriented and better at drawing, but I wish was better at painting.”

Gabe doesn’t claim to be an artist because he is not as well rounded in other forms of art other than drawing. He appreciates the colors of painting and how drawing is not as monotone as drawing can be. But even with the monotone colors, Gabe has plenty of inspiration from things he likes to draw.

“Back in middle school, I started with drawing sculptures.” Gabe said. “But when it started to get boring, I started to focus on realism kinds of drawings. Drawing sculptures helped to define and draw real things better.”

Gabe talked a lot about the difficulties of drawing realism, but about how it can be rewarding with the different deviations and images that you can draw. The difficulties have brought both stress relief and stress to Gabe.

“When I started out at first, it would stress me out at first because I would be too critical of myself,” Gabe said. “But now I would use it to help me with stress relief.”

When it comes to a future in art, at first optimistic about it, Gabe explained why art isn’t a major he would like to take.

“When I was young, I was really interested,” he said, “but as I got older, I realized that there are a lot more people in the world that try and practice more than me. Not only that but most artists only get recognized when they die.”

Gabe has used his time to perfect his craft as an artist and has used drawing as an escape for his competitive nature. But he never closes his mind to other forms or different things when it comes to art. He ended off the interview by inspiring people to draw real things.

“Most people may think realism pretty boring, but you can do so much with it,” Gabe said. “When it comes to art, don’t be closed-minded to the basics. Try different things. They will only make your skill better.”