Tell me a little bit about yourself.
My name is Marcel, and I’m from Hyattsville, Maryland. I’m the second oldest of my triplet brothers, Cole and William. We also have a younger brother named Carrington, the youngest, but the tallest of the family. I consider myself to be very optimistic, which is portrayed in my art as I love bright and vibrant colors. I love hiking and traveling though I’ve never traveled. However, next year, I hope to join ACA (Adventist Colleges Abroad) and to go to France. There, I hope to learn the language and culture my mother grew up in.
What inspires you to create?
I would definitely say that my experiences, my friends, and my family have inspired me to create. I love animation, or simply anything animated. Growing up, I loved to watch superhero cartoons and read comic books, and I still do today. I loved cartoons and comics so much that I began drawing them. My friends and family supplied me with the resources and encouragement I needed to cultivate my drawing skills and pursue my dreams of becoming an artist.
Some artists that have inspired me and my art style are Pascal Campion, Dion MBD (Dionisius Mehaga Bangun Djayasaputra), and SamDoesArt (Sam Yang). I love Pascal Campion’s art for his simple style and strong narrative storytelling seen throughout his comics. I love Dion for the elaborate storytelling he shows within his art and the way he portrays what seems to be an entire book of ideas in a single piece. I love SamDoesArt for his unique art style and the emotions he shows through his portrait drawings.
How would you define your art style?
I would say my art style is something I’m still finding. Over the years, my art has changed. I would definitely say that my art is different from what it was four years ago. A lot of my style has been inspired by anime and cartoons. I tend to use bright colors and simple shapes, to convey a message I want to portray. Lately, I’ve been playing around with animations and graphic novel-style pieces.
What is one of your favorite pieces you’ve created, and why?
One of my favorite pieces is “Small Spark.” It’s a dark canvas lit up by a bright flame emerging from a pencil. “Small Spark” is supposed to represent the small spark other artists and people have left with me throughout the years. This spark is what keeps me going and continues to allow me to create new pieces to inspire myself and hopefully others with my art in the future.
What do you aspire your future as an artist to be?
I hope to create art that inspires people. I know art isn’t the most financially stable career path, which led me to choose Graphic Design as my major. With a Graphic Design degree, there are endless opportunities in both the corporate and artistic worlds. I would like to work as a freelance graphic designer for the artistic freedom, but I’m open to working at an established company for job stability and the numerous opportunities available to me through a corporate network. However, no matter what my career is, I still plan to create my art.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.