A Clash Between Art Worlds by Keian

A Clash Between Art Worlds by Keian - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

Whenever I endlessly scour through my 9th grade sketchbook, there’s always this one cartoon version of myself that stares right at me, taking me back to this world that many don’t seem to be familiar with. There, I’d spend endless days drawing, filling up sketchbooks, drawing some more, filling up more sketchbooks, and exploring whatever it had to offer. However, I only stayed in the “cartoon world,” rarely ever venturing into the world of realism, which most, if not all, viewed as the ideal world to draw in.
I never publicly showcased the works I made in the cartooning world because who wants to be known as the “lame generic cartoon” guy that doesn’t draw “figures,” “landscapes,” or even “still-lifes.”? That’s unorthodox! Despite this however, I never stopped passionately chasing down my dreams of becoming a cartoonist like the greats such as Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Aaron McGruder, and Theodor Geisel.
In my Junior Year, I started to slowly open up my talents because there’s no better way to professionally explore such a unique world than showing your works to jokingly judgemental friends and cleverly commentative classmates. Presenting my work felt amazing, but it also gave me this calling to see what more I could do in the cartoon world.
Around this time, my school was hosting an art show to publicly recognize all of the great artists that work as hard as they can to positively represent the school community. Many people chose to submit pieces that they felt captivated their talents, all of them being based around realism. Seeing all of these pieces left me awestruck and I was nothing but proud of my peers, but I also questioned if someone would break the mold: if someone was “bad” enough to stray away from the safe world of realism.
An ego trip must’ve overtaken my thought process because I thought that with my cartoons, I would be able to prove that realism isn’t all that’s required to be classified as an artist with an award. If the National Cartoonist Society awards promising cartoonists with the Reuben Award, that has to mean that someone at school could win an award for stylized work as well.
With my eyes on the prize, I worked endlessly on a portfolio for 4 grueling months and came up with 6 art pieces that I could submit with pure excitement, 6 chances at grabbing that “Reuben Award” that I was desperately after. The art show came, the awards were handed out… and I didn’t win anything.
I originally didn’t know how to feel about it. Sure art isn’t about the awards but, I also lost my chance to prove a point; a chance to prove that the cartoon world can be as great as the realism world. I wanted to prove that the cartoon world, like realism, should be taken seriously, as it's able to leave as much of an impact upon people as realism. Without getting the “Reuben Award” though, I felt that I failed at proving how amazing the cartoon world can be and the importance that it can hold to people, much like how it has to me.
While processing these feelings, I noticed many groups of people were surrounding my artworks, studying them and laughing at them. Most of them were looking at this one piece that had 3 kids flying in a shopping cart, saying how creative the concept was. Seeing all this engagement made me realize something that applied to both art worlds. The reason that they both capture so many is because they have the ability to unite people together while promoting meaningful messages. These aspects are what pushed me to enter the cartoon world to begin with.
So whenever I flip through my sketchbook, I think about both of these worlds and how the cartoon world, though smaller than the realism world, is able to leave just as large of an impact upon so many people.