Road to Enlightenment | Posted: Nov. 11, 2016, 12:56 a.m.

Media: Digital Art, Photoshop Elements 9.0

Time: ~10 hours

For my art concentration in 12th grade, I decided to focus on drawing various types of paths. The paths would range from fantastical (like a path that led to a castle or to the sky) to more realistic (like a cobblestone path).

This path is the road to enlightenment.

Quick backstory:

Imagine a fantasy world in which a girl befriends a dragon and both of them seek answers to their pasts. Is the dragon the last of her kind? What happened to the girl's parents and siblings? The shrine is one way to speak to spirits, who hold answers from the beginning of time.

Why the "Om" symbol on the Japanese style temple? The combination represents harmony. The fantasy world welcomes the mixing of cultures and traditions.

On my way home from high school, I'd always pass a church with an "Om" symbol on one of its walls. When I first saw the symbol, I thought it was bizarre. As I grew up though, I realized there are many overlaps between different cultures. I have had the same conversations with people of different racial backgrounds.

Art analysis:

This piece was particularly challenging, due to the fact that I was drawing the front of a temple/shrine. Drawing the temple was extremely difficult, because I rarely draw buildings or cityscapes. While I formally learned about perspective, I have never formally divided a piece into a grid.