FEB 17, 2023

Art That I've Done

Little Bestie Capybara and Diana Lopetaitė

Hi! I'm Lia, a 12 year old artist who loves to browse Bored Panda. Over the years, I've taught myself how to draw, ranging from YouTube tutorials of kawaii Harry Potter characters (when I was eight), trying to recopy photos from the internet (when I was nine) and colouring mandalas (when I was ten). It was super fun to engage in a more artsy side of my personality, but I got tired of doing stuff that I found in the internet, like tutorials.

When I was ten, I absolutely loved mandalas. I would ask my dad to print them out for me, attempt to convince my mom to buy yet another mandala colouring book for me, but eventually, I got tired of colouring in mandalas. It didn't give me enough creative liberty anymore. One day, I decided that I wanted to make my own.

I grabbed a sheet of printer paper, a pencil, a black gel pen, and some basic geometry supplies, and went up to my room. A few hours later, I was done my first mandala. I don't know where it is currently, but it was that mandala that kickstarted my obsession with creating my own mandalas. It wasn't very good, but over time, I improved significantly, teaching myself how to make the drawings I loved to do. I have lost the majority of my mandalas over the years, but occasionally, one of two will end up in my locker, in my drawer, or better yet, in my portfolio.

I haven't restricted myself to mandala art, however. I taught myself how to do realistic art, and I'm currently attending a weekly art class to refine my skills. I do end up using a reference photo for some things, but greatly enjoy having the liberty to choose exactly how I want it to be. Some of the world can take up to seven or eight hours, like the more scenic mandalas, and the fox (drawing).

I started really doing painting when I was ten, as well. I've given my best pieces away, or lost them, but I have included three of my acrylic paintings. I have a tradition of painting canvasses for my best friends as Christmas and birthday gifts, so my painting disappears from my portfolio quite fast.

Some of the art here is unfinished. I put it in my portfolio, forget about it until some rainy day when I want to do some art, but have the artist's version of writers block. It will get improved, discarded or left until future referance. Although all of my mandalas are completed, my realistic art is still in dire need of touching up. The quality of the photos isn't the best either. I'm going to warn you, a lot of these are just random sketches I've done, and far from being finished

I would be happy to answer any questions, should you have them, and it would absolutely make my day if you took the time to upvote and comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to view this!