By Logan Tracy
Artist and junior Miles Eller has ambitions to take his art to the next level by attending an art college. However with obstacles getting in the way of working and growing his art ability. It has been difficult for him to push on with his passion.
The art Miles typically makes are animated scenes and still life drawings. He has been mastering these styles since elementary school, though he has never had a piece published, he is very confident in his ability. He said, “I have seen the art people have been accepted into top art colleges and I know my ability is right up there with them. I don’t need verification from anyone.”
In Order to grow as an Artist miles is doing a couple of different things. He is currently illustrating a comic for someone he met on the internet. “ I found a guy looking for an illustrator. I submitted some art and he loved it so I’ve been working on putting his vision on paper in this comic series ever since.” says Miles. He also is taking classes outside of school in the Mission.
As of right now Miles does not have any social media account to get his work out put he plans on making an Instagram account within the next month
His aspirations for his art are to get into an art school and see how far he can take it weighs heavily on his mind. “I’ve worked with the thought of continuing on in an art focused college that’s why working on my portfolio is so important. Colleges look at my portfolio and then I take an exam to get into the school.” The main school he is looking at is the School Of Visual Arts in New York.
He got into art in elementary school where his teacher recommended to take classes outside of school. From then he became obsessed with improving and finding new inspiration. He initially loved animation and the use of vibrant colors as time has gone on Still lifes have become more interesting to him “trying to paint exactly what you see is a whole different skill,” he says.
Schoolwork is also extremely important for Miles “Art schools take in grades just as much as art in terms of choosing who goes there making it important to stay on top of it. Right now I’m taking two APs which takes up a lot of time but if I do well on the exams I will have a much higher chance of getting in where I want.”
On an average school day he will take the bus after school straight to his work where he will do a 4 hour shift from 5-9 PM getting home a little before 10. “ It can be hard having so little time but I’m able to get school work done on days where I don’t have work. Time management can be hard though. Shifts can also be draining. Having them consecutively throughout the week is definitely hard with little time to work on my ongoing art projects.”
“Balancing all these responsibilities can be very difficult and recently my time to do art has been all but taken up. School and work take up 90% of my time giving my very little extra time where i’m already tired and burnt out to focus on drawing” He believes this sacrifice will definitely pay off “It’s hard I know that and I know I should be working drawing more but once my grades are settled and I can completely focus I believe my work will have higher quality because it will be all i’m thinking about.”
