David Foster

Whether it’s painting, drawing, singing or acting, Paly junior David Foster has always enjoyed expressing himself through different forms of art he has explored. Throughout his years at Paly, he has taken a wide range of art classes: Art Spectrum, Painting and Drawing, and Advanced Painting and Drawing Honors. As a senior, he hopes to to take AP Studio Art. This is Foster’s first year as a C Magazine illustrator and he loves the new type of final product it provides for his art. “I always love when C Magazine comes out and I can flip through the pages, looking for my art,” Foster said. “It’s a great feeling to see my work printed on those glossy pages.”

Foster has also taken art classes outside of Paly, one of which was a four week long program at the California Institute of the Arts in Southern California, called California State Summer School of the Arts. He worked with a variety of mediums and experimented with different topics for his art. “It was an amazing opportunity to work with some of the best artists in the state,” Foster said. “There were really great teachers, a really good environment, and it really helped me work on my skills and explore new types of art.”

Foster also uses his talents as a way of making money. He has started a business called Cases by David, in which he takes phone cases and paints beautiful pictures on them. People can request custom designs, and he sells them for anywhere between $35 and $50. “It’s always nice to be able to work for yourself and do what you like,” Foster said. “This is obviously not how I’m going to make all of my money, but it’s something I can do that makes me happy.”

As much as Foster loves art, he does not see his art as a potential career path for himself. “I don’t see it as a profession,” Foster said. “But I’m never going to give up art. Art will keep me sane.”

Andrew Huang

It actually started when I got out of the water at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz,” Huang said.

Andrew Huang is a senior at Palo Alto High School and has always been an adventurous individual.

Although he was exposed to art at a young age after his mother enrolled him in an art class, Huang only started pursuing this interest when he first started high school. Up until his freshman year, Huang was more invested in surfing which is one of his main passions. However, surfing would actually lead him to explore a whole new field of expression.

While at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, Huang spotted a man selling wave paintings on the street and was immediately drawn to the art. “[They showed] inside the barrel looking out and I just thought they were really cool,” Huang said.

Since then Huang has practiced his art on his own time, teaching himself painting and sketching techniques.

“[Art] is kind of a personal pursuit,” Huang said. “I like to figure out things myself.”

Huang’s passion for surfing inspires his artwork and leads him to create pieces depicting the surf scene, beach landscapes and waves.

The piece he feels the strongest connection to is a painting he did of an Indonesian beach on an old broken surfboard.

“I didn’t know what to do with it [the broken surfboard] so I painted it and it hangs in my room,” Huang said.

Huang has only been working with C Magazine for the past school year, but he has already established himself as a talented illustrator through his many pen sketches featured in the magazine. Although Huang does not plan to pursue art as a potential career choice, he believes he will continue his art as a hobby while still saving some free time to surf.

Mia Bloom

All her life Mia Bloom has been exploring the different mediums the art world has to offer. She has done everything from painting to drawing to watercolor, and has even started to discover the digital art realm.

She was an illustrator for C Mag two years ago and started illustrating for the magazine again this school year. She uses her experience in various mediums to create a lot of different pieces for the magazine.

Bloom took her first art class at a young age where she learned how to oil paint. “I took an oil painting class but I only have one oil painting from that class,” Bloom said. “The teacher was really mean and made me cry everyday because I wasn’t very good at the age of seven.”

She recently submitted her art in the Scholastic Arts Competition where artists are given  the opportunity to win a variety of different awards called “keys.”

In addition, she submitted her most recent piece to the New Museum Los Gatos, NUMU. This museum has a competition called “ArtNow” which is an opportunity for high school students to submit their work and have it featured in the museum.

“The Los Gatos art competition has a theme every year and this year’s theme was perspectives, so I made a piece that was of a reflection of eyes in spilled coffee or tea,” Bloom said. “We were supposed to use an unusual medium, so I decided to use coffee and tea as my medium. It was kind of annoying to paint it with coffee and tea because it doesn’t work and blend as well as paint.”

Even though art is one of Bloom’s main passions she does not see herself pursuing it in college. “I used to think that I was gonna do art in college but it’s less fun if you have to do it all the time,” Bloom said. “I’m not going to art school or anything like that, but I want to continue doing it just on my own time.”

Art provides an outlet for Bloom which she will value throughout her entire life. “I love art because it’s something I can lose myself in if I’m bored or sad,” Bloom said. “It’s a good way to channel emotions.”

Bo Fang

For Bo Fang, a junior at Palo Alto High School, art is not just a hobby. His passion for sketching, painting and digital design has developed into a potential career. Fang has been a C Magazine artist since the start of the school year, and has created many stunning pieces featured in the magazine. Fangs favorite piece featured in the magazine is a simple sketch that was used in a story about mental health. “The semicolon piece was my favorite,” Fang said. “It was the back of a girls head, her hair was in a ponytail and behind her ear was a semicolon.”

Fang has always been fascinated with art and has been enrolled in a variety of classes to perfect his skills. He has taken a number of the art classes offered at Paly including Digital Design, Painting and Drawing and Painting and Drawing Advanced. Not only does Fang take part in the classes offered at school, but he also takes classes at Yu Hua Fang Art Studio in Saratoga, as well as at BPC Art Studio in Palo Alto.

“I have been taking classes outside of school since I was four,” Fang said.

Fang enjoys many traditional forms of art such as sketching, acrylic and charcoal painting, but hopes to find a career in digital design.

“I really want to do something digital art related for a career, specifically 3D game design,” Fang said. “I’m honestly open to anything because I never know, I might change directions.” In his pursuit of an art related career, Fang has been looking at colleges that have a focus on design.

“My top art college is RISD, Rhode Island School of Design, and I am also looking at colleges on the East coast, near New York,” Fang said. Fang’s future is promising as he continues to gain experience and  practice his passion of art to reach his dream.

Leon Lau

CMag writer and illustrator Leon Lau has contributed his art to many stories throughout the past year. Though he specializes in pencil art, including colored pencil, marker, watercolor, and oil pastels, he has recently sparked an interest in digital art, which he hopes to pursue. C Magazine has allowed him to explore his art capabilities, letting him to discover new art styles he never would have done if it were not for C Magazine.

Over the past couple of months Lau has found most joy in completing portraits. Whether it be family, friends or celebrities, Lau feels greatly accomplished after finishing a portrait. One of his favorite pieces of his own is an oil painting he made of rapper Lil Pump. “Though at first it did not look like him, and I had difficulties trying to find the right shape, the final piece looks quite nice and I am very proud of it,” Lau said. Lau made this portrait while taking classes at CSMA, Community School of Music and Arts. There, he learned about oil paintings and how to perfect them.

Outside of C Magazine, Lau’s art has been displayed at the CSMA studio in Mountain View. He regularly attends CSMA or Fong Art Studio classes to learn new art skills and techniques and feels he benefits most when past artists come back from college and encourages them to pursue art after high school. Though Lau does not see a future career in the arts, he would like continue art after high school. “I hope to pursue art in college and study something along the lines of design and art.” Lau said. He has been a great advantage to C Magazine as both a writer and illustrator and he is excited to continue being a part of the staff for his senior year.