As a child, Michael Auld (12) took some art classes in elementary school but never fully enjoyed them.

“I didn’t like [the classes] that much because I was doing a lot of copying, and I drifted away from it,” he said. “But then, as I got older, I realized that this is what I like doing. I doodle or draw on my notebooks and on the sidelines of my homework.”

Now, he draws as a way to relax when stressed out and utilizes art as a creative outlet.

“I still draw every once in a while, but I never come up with anything,” he said. “ When I do draw, it’s kind of just to relax; I don’t really do it to have a finished product.”

Recently, he has begun to draw more abstract pieces instead of focusing on depicting real subjects.

“I’ve been moving more abstract because I don’t really like drawing people. People are hard to draw; you can’t really get them to look right all the time, so I’ve kind of [avoided] that,” he said. “The problem is that a lot of things have people in them, so I stuck to abstract: shapes, playing with balance.”

Reading comic books and watching movies are two activities which inspire Michael to draw.

“When you watch a movie, you can see the way the director balances color,” he said. “When I see something cool that I like, I just think, ‘that will be really awesome to draw,’ and I’ll try to draw it. I usually don’t end up with what I started with, but that’s the beauty of drawing; you can start with a little seed of an idea, and you can branch to whatever you want.”

His artistic side also carries into his daily life and often plays a role in helping him make decisions when buying products in stores.

“When I see something that’s well made, I kind of have an appreciation for it,” he said. “I don’t buy a lot of things, so when I look for something to buy, I kind of favor certain styles of things, such as minimalist or clean-looking things.”