Young Artist: Matthew Galeana
“Dead End Nightmare”
Young artists at MLA are very talented and say that there are unique ways to show emotion and attitude. These young artists have been through a lot and would like you to know a little bit about them and what they think and feel when they draw. So stay tuned to this artist’s profile. Let’s begin…
Matthew Galeana is 17 years old, and currently a junior at Marine Leadership Academy. Galeana began his art journey at the early age of 5 when he would trace coloring book pages and slowly learned more and more skills over time. Today, twelve years later, Galena is still an avid artist, taking art courses and AP art classes such as AP drawing and 2D art here at MLA.
What makes your own artwork unique is the time and effort you are willing to put into an artwork to illustrate the vision or view you had in mind.
— Matthew Galeana
What brought Matthew to his passion for art was having the ability to create something all on his own. Things like a board games, a coloring book page, card games, and so on. Matthew enjoyed being able to make surreal, this world, artworks from anything he has. With his work, Matthew has been able to get recognized for his skills and even offered paid jobs. Currently, he has been working on two artworks: one that is a half-tiger and half-tiger skull, the other being a casino-type slot machine artwork (both shown below).
Matthew has gotten his current inspiration for his artworks from his interest in the rock bands he listens to, for example, Metallica, AC DC, Shinedown, Disturbed, etc. While rock is certainly an influential part of Matthew’s art pieces, he gets most of his inspiration from his father and older brother. According to Matthew, “when I was 5 years old I would see my dad draw on canvases and paint beautiful paintings that take time and effort which he learned from Bob Ross in VHS tapes.” He continues on by saying how his brother was able to inspire him as well. He states, “ I would see my older brother draw in his personal drawing book and have some awesome drawings of knights or monsters and I was thinking that maybe one day I could achieve that.”
When asked which one of his art pieces was his favorite, he believes that if he had to pick just one, it would be his artwork named “The Beast Within”, which he is currently still working on. This is because Matthew had never had to draw an animal with as many details as that one and he viewed it as one of his best achievements when it came to being an artist, being able to master the drawing of a tiger.
I would see my older brother draw in his personal drawing book and have some awesome drawings of knights or monsters and I was thinking that maybe one day I could achieve that.
— Matthew Galeana
Most importantly, Matthew wants those reading this to know, “Anyone can achieve art in many different styles. What makes your own artwork unique is the time and effort you are willing to put into an artwork to illustrate the vision or view you had in mind.”
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