HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ARTISTIC STYLE? 

I don't have a style but my friend says 'Everyone has a style, it's like an accent in art' so if you don't think you have one, you have one. But at the same time, I look at references and compile things together, sometimes it's realistic or it's manga style. Other times one of my alters will do realistic stuff or cartoon-y stuff so it just varies.

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO CREATE? 

The world, if it's something I like or can relate to then I will draw it. I try to put my depression and every emotion I have on paper and sometimes that's very hard to do but I'll do it and say 'Woah! I did it.' My past and sometimes sad or happy stuff will inspire me too.

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HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS? DOES IT START WITH A SKETCH, A PHOTO, OR AN IDEA?

Sometimes I will see a pose and want to draw myself or someone else in that pose, mix it up a bit and use a different background or I will want to use marker but don't know what pose to use. It's a lot of Pintrest and whatever my current mood is, whatever will enhance a piece. Last night I just made a piece where I used Copic markers and I planned on doing a body but I didn't and it just turned out to be my head and my shoulders and part of my chest but I used my hair to censor it. So I'm using my hair to wrap around me like a depression cocoon and instead of drawing my body I drew the top half. Sometimes when you're depressed and the only thing you have is your depression and it wraps around you like a cocoon or a blanket in winter, that's how I planned it.

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WHAT DOES TEEN LAB MEAN TO YOU?

It means everything at once, because I love everyone here no matter how long they stay. I will have really bad days and hate life but I come here and feel a little better. I felt so alone as a kid because I would never have any art friends who understood, I was always picked last for gym and everyone was like 'Ew! it's that weird artist goth' but then I found people here. It's like having family especially when your only family really consisted of the alternate personalities you've subconsciously created because your mind has it's ways of protecting itself from your birth family's trauma. You know? It's like family, it's really what family means to me. People you can make art with and talk about weird things, you don't get judged and people are really chill. I need that in my life.  

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