Headphones in, Art Mode on
By MIKAELA BIRCH
Once her headphones are in, Catie Lyons is in her own world, creating art that inspires the people in her life. Lyons admires anime art and pursues this admiration by illustrating her own characters, as well as drawing characters from her favorite movies and T.V. shows.
Lyons, a self-taught artist, knows how to bring her pieces to life by using vibrant colors, beautiful line work, and emotion. She first developed an interest for art at a young age, starting out as a “doodler.” Around the ages 11 and 12, anime inspired her to create her own illustrations of the anime style, and to this day, she continues to wow and amaze people she shows her art to.
“I’ve always loved anime. Even as a young child, I used to watch Pokemon and Yugioh, before I even knew it was anime,” the aspiring artist said. “Since I was little, I always loved the ‘look’ of the animation that was used in the anime that I watched,” Lyons added.
“It makes me happy that she found something that she really enjoys and wants to pursue,” Lina Lyons, Catie’s mother, said.
With each drawing Catie creates, there’s always something she wants to improve, especially components of the process that she struggles with. She also strives to create more “detailed” and “complex” pieces of work.
“Sometimes, if you feel a certain way, and don’t know how to handle it, drawing the way you feel helps to get those feelings out,” Catie explained, “and sometimes you just want to draw for fun, because you enjoy it, and enjoying what you’re doing gets you to improve and get better.”
According to Catie, depending on the complexity and how much time she has to draw, “it usually takes between 3 to 4 days, but sometimes it takes longer” for her to complete a drawing. “The longest it took me was a week and a half,” Catie added.
“She’s really good at it; it’s kinda weird how some people can’t even draw a straight line and she can do all the stuff that she does. And how much she likes to do it, even when she was little, she loved drawing and arts and crafts,” John Lyon’s, Catie’s brother, noted.
The thing about anime drawings/art that Catie loves the most are the eyes. “An anime characters’ main feature is usually their eyes; there are so many different types of shapes, sizes and even colors that make anime eyes an art form in themselves,” Catie described.
“The coloring she does is really good; she makes it look almost 3D with the way she colors everything in,” John said, as he explains what her biggest strength is when it comes to drawing.
There is never a time when Catie isn’t focused while she works on a drawing. “When she has her headphones on,” Lina said, “[she] literally can’t hear the world around her.”
While in her room, Catie puts on her headphones, “blasting music,” and allows herself to get focused and situated with the right mediums.
“I use regular number two pencils to start the sketching. Once that is done, I use black inking pens to sharpen the pencil lines,” Catie said, as she explained her drawing process. “After that it’s time to add color; for this I either use copic markers or prismacolor colored pencils and soft pastels for blur effects,” she added.
According to Catie, drawing helps her feel more relaxed and tranquil when she is stressed; she simply enjoys it and noted that “it comes naturally” to her.
“Whenever she finishes a part of a drawing, she shows me with a big smile on her face, and says ‘I finished! Do you like it? Is it good, or should I add something?’
She ALWAYS wants to improve on her skills,” Lina said with admiration.
“I always think [her art] is really cool,” John said, “I always ask her ‘how do you draw like this?’ and she usually just says ‘I don’t know, I just did it.’”