Q: Tell me about all the artsy things you do.

A: “When I started in music, I started off on the flute for about six years and then coming into my freshman year of high school, I switched over to the bassoon in second semester, and now it’s become my primary instrument for the Wind Ensemble. It’s horrible but addicting.”

Q: You’re the only player, right?

A: “In Wind Ensemble, yes. There is another person who plays. He’s not in the band this year because of class conflicts, but he does play.”

Q: What’s it like to be the only one?

A: “It can be a little stressful because I don’t always have someone to go ‘hey, when do I come in this part?’ or the instrument isn’t naturally loud, so I have to work a lot harder to get it to actually project noise.”

Q: Why did you decide to choose bassoon?

A: “I wasn’t really keeping up with the skill of all of the other flute players, and a junior, at the time playing the flute, got me addicted to the sound of the bassoon and eventually switched me over.”

Q: Tell me about your 2-D arts.

A: “For drawing, I’m in my second year of AP art, which I’ve mixed feelings about being the best decision I’ve made for taking it twice in a year and also the worst because I have a lot of stuff to do.”

Q: Why did you decide to take it twice then?

A: “The first time I did it, it was kind of an introduction to getting more heavily critiqued on my work. This second year, I’m a lot more organized and my idea is a little more complex and I think I’ve just improved from the last year.

Q: What is your concentration this year?

A: “My concentration this year is creatures, real and imaginary, that make me feel feelings of wonder and awe. So, like my favorite animals; things I just find cool.”

Q: Why are you so passionate about art?

A: “It is one of the only ways I can effectively express myself.”

Q: How so?

A: “Around strangers, I’m very inept, and I’m not good at talking about things, and when I do talk, I close up. But when I draw something, I can use certain colors, certain shapes and a subject and then maybe slide it across the table and say ‘hey, here’s what I think right now,’ or ‘this is what I’ve been feeling for the past month,’ and I feel that’s a more effective way to communicate for myself.”

Q: You also do digital art, right? Tell me about that, a little bit.

A: Digital art, there’s a lot of programs out there that you can use to draw. I use PaintTool SAI, which is like Photoshop, but it has very little editing tools. It’s more for painting, drawing on the computer, and I started off using a mouse to draw, which a lot of beginners do. It doesn’t provide pen pressure or like a difference between the thickness of the lines, and last year I got an Intuos Pro tablet, which it connects to the computer, and it kind of simulates the way a pencil or paintbrush works, and it provides difference in the lines, like the thickness of paint, and so on.

Q: How is that different than actually using paint?

A: “In digital art, I can cheat a little bit by using layers and if I don’t like something, I have the undo button to fix my mistakes.”

Q: What’s your favorite form of art that you do?

A: “I prefer to work in pencil and charcoal because it might not be the easiest thing or the cleanest, but it’s just what I work with the most.”

Q: “What are your future plans regarding art?

A: “I plan on taking art courses at K-State for the fall semester and through college to get a bachelor in the arts before transferring to Kansas City Art Institute.”

Q: Why do you want to do that?

A: “Eventually, a long term goal that I have is to provide concept art in storyboarding for animated films.”