Take a step back by Leah

Take a step back by Leah - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

All throughout my life I have always been known for having a love for art, I went from being the quietest kid in class to somehow turning into the kid that expressed her artistic abilities along with loads of assurance that my dreams of becoming an artist would someday become a reality. Surprisingly it would not always be like this for me because of distractions and other certain problems that held me back from becoming my best self while making this goal become my reality, When showing my work to others they admired the sketches I would create although some would question if I would ever start working with other mediums for my art, My answer would always be “No” because I felt it was too hard to grasp, but the same question made me realize what it would be like to get outside my comfort zone for once. With that one floating thought in my mind I began to use all sorts of mediums ranging from Color pencils, Paint, Markers the list goes on, Over time my confidence grew larger when merging mediums together, Even others see how far I have gotten and can't believe the progress I have made. Nowadays I feel so much happier knowing that I listened to others advice on leveling up my own art, It shows me that you should absolutely push yourself because you'll never know what you can truly do until you give it a shot. With the given skills I now have acquired, it makes me one step closer to pursuing my dream of becoming a children's book illustrator, I Would love to inspire kids with my drawings on each page of a book just to see them smile and make them feel heard.