Caitlin Morgan, a senior at Washington High School, developed a love for art making handy-crafts with her family and aspires to turn it into her career.
For many, art is the personal connection between oneself and everyone and everything around them. It’s an extension of their own personality and how they want to display themselves to others. For senior Caitlin Morgan, art is how she expresses herself and how she displays her ideas. She likes to share her ideas with others, and drawing is one of the easiest ways for her to do so. “I’m a pretty poor storyteller with words, so being able to show the stories through my drawings is easier for me than telling them,” she says. “Drawing allows me to ‘paint a picture’ of the story itself instead of just telling people the bare bones of the characters’ personalities and plot lines.”
She grew to love art through practicing with her dad and doing crafts with her family over the holidays. “[From] little things like painting wooden cutouts of jack o’lanterns, painting easter eggs, and making leprechaun traps, art reminds me of my family and all the good memories we had together doing these crafts,” Morgan says. “My family and I used to do these a lot when I was younger, and those experiences really pushed me to pursue art as a hobby as I got older.” Morgan started taking art seriously in junior high when art was available to her through electives. Regularly going through projects and practicing has helped her improve. At Washington High, she has pursued art through classes like AP Studio Art, where she has been exposed to methods she otherwise shied away from, like going heavier on pigmented shading and colors. With assignments every week, she says the immense amount of practice can be seen in her works with more vibrant, less pastel looking techniques.
Caitlin likes to draw people and animals the most. Sketching faces and expressions is her favorite part. “There’s a ton of emotion you can put into a small line, and it makes it very easy to experiment with different expressions on the paper,” she says. “I like to use alcohol markers and pencils the best, but it is sometimes fun to sharpen up colors with colored pencils.” She likes to draw cartoon-y styles of characters with large eyes and eye-popping colors. Drawing inspiration off of beloved Disney and Cartoon Network cartoons, Caitlin developed her own style and her own characters’ looks in the process. “Making them feels more accomplishing for me, and they tend to be a bit less stressful to create,” she says. “And after a few years, I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable drawing in this style, and this is why it’s one of my favorites.”
From pursuing art when she was younger with her family, to furthering it and developing her own unique style, Morgan aspires to turn her passion for art into her career. “Currently almost all the colleges I’ve applied to were applied under an art degree. I hope to have a future career in the arts, and hopefully college will be a great way to get me one step closer to that goal.”
This reporter graduated in 2020.
Irfan Khasru is a senior at Washington High School. Born and raised in Fremont, this is his first year writing as a reporter for the Hatchet. He is particularly interested on writing about the entertainment industry and the local food scene. You will usually find him online playing video games, at home trying to sneak a nap in, or expertly crafting smoothies at Jamba Juice.