What kind of art do you do?

I like to draw, but what I’m trying to pursue is graphic design.

Do you see yourself pursuing this as a career after high school? 

Yes, certainly. That’s why right now I’m trying to get my foot in the door, because I want to make this a career when I leave high school and leave college.

How long would you say it takes to make each graphic?

It can be anywhere from an hour to 5 hours.

What kinds of programs do you use?

I do photoshop and then I use indesign.

What got you interested in art or this type of art in particular?

I had a teacher Ms. Foley — this was when I took graphic design with her — and she was the one that kind of pushed me, told me that I really could make a career out of it, if I really wanted to. The fact that she said, I could be making a portfolio in high school, really interested me.

Is that when you first started making these graphics?

I started last year, in the graphic design class that Ms. Foley had, but I wasn’t really using photoshop that much. Once I took Photo 2 with Ms. Ortman, I just started to figure things out on my own and then I would start staying after class and I would sit in the lab all day, while all of her other classes rotated through, and I would just experiment on photoshop.

On your instagram account you do graphics for rappers. How do you communicate with them?

It’s all about trying to get noticed. For example, if I do a piece of work, and if it looks really good and if it looks like it could be up to par, I post it on my account and then I tag whoever is involved in the graphic, and I try to see if maybe they’ll show some interest. Or you know, there’s always the networking route, where you just know people. To some degree, that’s what happened to me too. I just know a couple people, and from there you make your way through and start networking. It’s a lot of word of mouth.

Would you say your instagram account generates a lot of interest from other people?

Heck no because I’m just starting. My graphic design account is completely separate from my personal one, but my personal account drums up a lot more support than my regular graphic design account. I think it’s just longer, so I have more followers.

Which rappers have you made graphics for so far?

Just a few local ones. There’s coolie waves — he’s local — I did work for a photographer in Texas, so that was cool. He shot Post Malone, so I got to work with the photographer — not so much Post Malone himself — but I was able to edit a picture with Post Malone on it, which the photographer took of Post Malone. So it was something. I just recently did something for these two rappers, Curly Savv and Dada, which are Brooklyn rappers. They used to be big a couple years ago and so I was able to reach out to them because I used to be a fan of theirs. Once I tagged them in my work, they noticed, and that was when they hit me up and were like, “Ok, would you like to work together?”  and I was like, “Of course.”

Have any rappers reached out to you specifically?

Most local rappers reach out to me, but I’m the one who has to reach out to people out of state. Like I said, I’m not big at all so people don’t know who I am. So it’s a lot of me trying to going out and drum up business.