By: Jade Penney
PCCC graphic design graduate Marcos Salazar who graduated in 2017 is making a name for himself in the art world. Despite being a student at William Paterson University, he has illustrated his first book, but let’s take a step back and start from the beginning. Salazar moved to Paterson from the Bronx. Growing up art was something that always caught his eye. He wanted to draw everything around him whether it be his family, neighborhood, pet, or plants. When he moved to Paterson, Salazar’s artistic mind flourished. He described it as, “I worked predominately in pen and ink (or feather and ink), the people, places, architecture and monuments of the City of Paterson provide an unlimited source of inspiration for me.” Salazar went on to explain he would take photos of his favorite places within the city as a reference for his art works. Salazar attended John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson for his junior and senior year. While attending Kennedy, Salazar was introduced to graphic design, and digital art. When he got to be a senior Salazar had Ms. So Yoon Lym as his art teacher. According to Salazar Ms. Lym would always challenge the class to make their art pieces more complex. During his time in Ms. Lym’s art class, Salazar explains “What made Ms. Lym so powerful as a teacher was that she not only taught, but she herself is an artist.” Salazar continued explaining that Ms. Lym taught her class how to present, frame, and how to wire the frame. Salazar explained, “By the time I got to college, I knew exactly that the art field is where I belong.” Salazar is currently a junior at William Paterson University and is majoring in fine arts with a focus on painting, print making, 3 dimensional artworks, and graphic design. Yet, he is currently focusing on his personal journey through life through his artwork. Salazar describes this as “My goal as an artist is to reach a level in which I can create artwork of pure emotions. Emotions such as warmth, peace, security, a total immersion in light and beauty.” Salazar’s most recent project was creating illustrations for a children’s book. The name of the book is “Little Horses” and it was written by Nanci Ianzano. The book is about three mini horses Princess, Honey, and Rafael, who play together on their farm. The three horses get bullied by the bigger horses every day because they are smaller, but one day a bad storm occurs and the mini horses get the opportunity to teach the bigger horses a lesson about courage, determination, and friendship. Salazar faced some challenges with drawing for this book. One main challenge is to make sure the drawings keep the children readers interested, but most importantly how a farm works. He explains, “To make this book possible, I had to study how a real farm works. Also, studied nature, facial expressions, real mini and large horses.” Despite these challenges, Salazar’s reasoning behind doing the illustrations is because he struggled with reading as a child. He explained, “… I personally struggled a lot in reading and writing… because I could not read, I used to focus of the illustrations and make up my own story.” Salazar went on to say how having this opportunity as an adult to create for today’s youth is a dream come true. Salazar has such a love for art and by moving to Paterson really enhanced his creative visions. He explained his love for art as “There was and still is a mystery, a spiritual connection that keeps my love for creating art alive.” When asked what advice he had for future artists, Salazar had a lot to say. He described creating art as “something that comes from within your own mind.” Salazar explained that it is something he has learned on his own journey when he creates his art works. He continued, “It is easy to get discouraged when creating art because many create for others. If their friends and family do not approve they get discouraged easily.” Salazar’s advice is simple “Let go of any insecurities you may have and accept who you are.” He explained by doing this will help build your confidence, which will be reflected in your art work. Salazar concluded his advice by saying, “Everyone has a story to tell, and that our stories are equally as important. Start to study the people and places around you, draw from observation because this is where you build your skills.”
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