Featured Artist: Danya Issawi

Q: What does your art look like?

A: It depends on what I do. I do a lot of different types of art when I have freetime. I like to sketch a lot I like to doodle and I like to paint too. But usually when I paint I do freeform, abstract kind of stuff. When I sketch I really like to do people… and I especially like to do females. Which is kind of weird and kind of creepy in a way.

Q: What are your inspirations?

A: A lot of times I’ll just see something on the internet… that’s super cool.And I wonder if I can draw that. Sometimes I’m just like, what’s the point of drawing this? It’s just pencil and paper and it takes from thirty minutes to an hour to do. But it’s such a satisfying feeling knowing that you can create something with your hand that actually looks real. I’m inspired by a lot of things I see. I’m inspired by people’s pictures a lot and iconic figures like Marilyn Monroe– I tried to sketch something of her. And now that yearbook’s in I’m going to have more freetime so hopefully I can draw things again.

Q: What is the process that you go through?

A: After I find something that inspires me I’ll look at it for a really long time and then I’ll go about trying to sketch it or if I’m painting something [and it makes me feel a certain way] I’ll try and translate that through painting. And I don’t’ know if you can tell because a lot of it’s blobs of paint.

Q: How often do you sketch or paint?

A: Recently, I haven’t been able to in a really really long time because I’ve been so busy with school and yearbook and it’s been so time consuming. But I guess yearbook in itself is kind of like art. Anything can be art if you think it’s art. Anything that allows you to express yourself is art. Over the summer I do it quite often, but recently I haven’t been able to.

Q: Do you do other things while you sketch or paint?

A: Oh yeah, I always listen to music. I have a playlist and I made it before I had an iPhone so it’s on YouTube. And it’s just certain songs that I hear will remind me of it. Like ‘Skinny Love’ will make me think of sketching or painting because it’s on my playlist. ‘Jar of Hearts’ is on that playlist as well and then ‘For Emma’ is also on that playlist. I always listen to music. One time I tried to paint outside because it was spring break and I had to stay home. I think this was sophomore year. And I tried to get a tan but it was too cold. I was standing outside in a tanktop and shorts and I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll get tan. I’ll get a sunkissed glow and maybe I’ll be able to paint something in the process.’ But it didn’t work so I had to move everything inside, but I still got a good painting out of it.

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