I’m currently a student studying at UVU in Orem, Utah. I will be completing my Bachelors of Fine Art with an emphasis in Illustration and a minor in Marketing this December 2020.
Art isn’t something I just did from day one. I had a pretty hard time letting myself choose this path. I knew that if I chose art as my career it wasn’t going to be an easy road so making the decision to actually pursue it took a lot of debating back and for on my part.
Yeah I loved art when I was little and one of my favorite images was a portrait of my mother I drew at age 9. My mother would draw portraits of us while we sat at church and I decided I would do the same.
While drawing was a fun activity I never viewed it as anything other. As I got older I figured I needed to leave this hobby behind and start focusing on a real skill in which I could make a successful living. While I enjoyed my academics I never enjoyed my time like when I was drawing. I started doodling characters from video games I enjoyed playing in Jr. High School but again it was only something I did in the background. In High School I entertained the idea of taking art courses but talked myself out of them whenever I thought about where it would get me in the real world.
So I graduated High School and was well on my way to completing my general’s in college when the conflict came up again. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Sure I could go some generic direction and be miserable the whole time but who can really live that way? Who wants to? I found a slightly more exciting field I liked and could scrape out a living off of with less effort but almost 2 years in I found myself questioning the reality I had chosen.
In the end it came down to the fact that I couldn’t just say no to something because I was afraid I’d fail. I took some starter art courses to see how it went. Needless to say it sucked me in. I quickly changed my major and so far haven’t looked back. Sure it hasn’t been a walk in the park. I’ve been working my little art fingers to the bone but I’ve loved who I’m becoming each day. I’m discovering more about myself each day not just increasing my art skills.
I was scared out of my mind when it came time to apply to the BFA program. Each year the competition increases so every time I let it pass by my anxiety would increase ten fold. Finally it was do or die. I had taken almost all the courses I could without being in the program so my excuses had run out. When I saw the response e-mail in my inbox I almost couldn’t open it. I had been accepted! What? Really?! I couldn’t believe it. Yes there were many happy dances that week.
Each day I worry about my skill, my competition, where I am headed, if I made the right choice. Soon I will be applying for graduation and I can only hope I feel my time in school was well worth it. So here goes to my final semester in my Bachelor’s program!
I’m open to comments and critiques of anything I post on here. I want to know how other people view my work vs. how I view it myself.
Interested in my work and what I do? Contact me for commissions emsilay4@gmail.com
emsilay4 🙂
Emily Rhoades 