From colored pencils to acrylics, Cynthia Zhou ’25 creates art using various mediums. Since seventh grade, she has learned to translate her personality into her art style. Besides drawing as a hobby and gifting paintings, Zhou is a member of the art studio Keke Studio, and co-president of the Numina Gallery. Over the course of her artistic journey, Zhou’s former art teacher and younger sister have become her inspirations.

What made you interested in creating art?

I was always self-taught when I was younger. I really liked to doodle in class [and] I think that’s really my biggest thing. I liked comics a lot, so I read a lot of Webtoons and stuff like that growing up. I think the main reason why I started learning was because originally I wanted to draw web comics ... Later on, I realized that, honestly, [art is] just really calming, and a [way for me to] express myself.

What is your artistic process?

I think it depends for the most part. I have a bank of ideas [that I think] about. Usually, I [use] the best idea and then pick a color scheme [for the piece]. I’m into really random colors mixed together to create really vibrant pieces ... My idea, and then the colors that I want to incorporate ... are the [two] things that I always decide before drawing and then I usually sketch it out. Right now, I’m doing a lot of acrylic. I start with the base colors [and] the face first. I get very excited to do certain parts, so I skip around, and focus on one specific part, really in detail, [then I] skip over to the next part. I don’t do the full thing all at once.

Have you ever felt like quitting art because of challenges that you faced?

Yeah, I think in eighth grade, I went through a really hard time with my life during COVID. I would rip up my drawings and stuff like that because I just would take my anger out on art. I really wanted to just stop [doing] art, because I didn’t feel like myself. Because art was such a big part of myself, I thought that was the issue, and I just wanted to quit.

What made you continue art?

My sister was especially [helpful]. She taped all my drawings back up together, which was really thoughtful. And I think I eventually just got over it. I came to the realization that I really love drawing and I can’t stop.

What were some goals that you had when you started and how have they changed over the course of your journey?

I think my original goal was ... to do something big, like draw a Webtoon or enter a competition and win something massive. But I think because I wanted that, I had to follow this very structured art type. But honestly, I think throughout the years, I realized that I don’t want to draw this very standard type of art. I’ve been exploring with a ton of different crazy ideas that I get from my head. I really love writing with art too. I think originally I did not want to write at all with my art, but now I just like to tie those two together. But I don’t really have a huge goal. [I] just like to do [art] for fun.