Rudd reflects on high school art career
Senior Julia Rudd designed “10 Ducks and a girl” in a computer graphics class for her VCU portfolio. “The focus in the picture is the bright yellow contrasting with the dull background,” Rudd said.
While most artists have a specific niche that they pertain to, one just wasn’t enough for senior Jay Rudd. Rudd paints, illustrates and graphic designs. Rudd has taken art 1 and 2 and has also taken graphic design to strengthen her portfolio for college. With these three forms of art, Rudd heavily prefers these over others.
“I do a lot of illustrations and paintings and I’m trying to get into graphic design. I feel like [these three forms of art] are the best way to express my ideas I have,” Rudd said.
Getting her inspiration for art at a young age, Rudd has painted since she was a child and has continued her traditions to this day.
“[During elementary and middle school,] I was that kid who would always be the one to draw stuff on pieces of paper which teachers would hate, but it’s really helped with my skills in art and I’ve been making art ever since,” Rudd said.
Not only does Rudd graphic design, illustrate and paint, she also writes stories to accompany the artwork she makes. Rudd makes character designs based off of TV shows she enjoys watching.
“I like making character designs and concepts of stories that I write with my art. [My stories] are more of an action-fantasy type genre. I get inspiration for my stories from a lot of anime series like ‘My Hero Academia,’” Rudd said. “I’m [currently] writing a story called ‘Saving Marine’ and it’s about a princess who’s trying to figure out her power to help others in need. I really love [writing, painting and illustrating] because they all calm me down from stress and I just feel creative and know that I’m getting better each time I try.”
Instead of conforming to general themes and patterns of modern art, Rudd prefers a more diverse approach.
“I try to do a lot of unique, crazy things with my art so they stand out from other people’s and are just in general outside of the norm,” Rudd said.
To focus herself while painting, Rudd hones her art skills by focusing on her end product.
“[When I’m painting or illustrating] I try to think about the final result, but sometimes the final result doesn’t go as planned so I just think that at least I’m getting better when I fail.”