Rising Stars: Meet CeLyn Evens

Today we’d like to introduce you to CeLyn Evens.

Hi CeLyn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started by drawing on the work sheets I would get during elementary school (though I feel everyone had their doodling phase on homework). My family noticed my interest in drawing outside of that area and would buy me sketchbooks as gifts to hone my skills. I would also purchase paper from the store to practice drawing cartoon characters I saw in tv shows and movies. During high school, I started getting more serious about my art and how I presented myself as an artist. I entered many competitions to continue forming my craft and improving my painting style. During college, I focused more on digital art and learned how to use much different software that may be very useful to me in the foreseeable future. I am currently working on my first-ever SOLO Exhibition, along with multiple projects that I can’t wait to share soon! I am super proud of where I am today, and I’m excited to see what more art will come through my creative spirit.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Artists, in general, have many challenges that they have to come to face with. I struggle with being confident in my art and how I value my work. I always think less of what my art may be to others, or I will continuously degrade the piece because I’m not completely satisfied with how it came out. I have also had many challenges with credit. I’ve worked on multiple team projects to where I wasn’t due the credit I felt like I deserved, and since then, it has made me want to be more indecent on where I take on these projects. I don’t mind working on a team, I love working with other artists, but when there isn’t credit given, I also feel like my talent was overused. Again, it’s never a smooth road for an artist, but these challenges help better an artist’s view on what or what not to distribute themselves in certain environments, and these choices can form more of the artist’s character.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work comes from my love for the visual arts. I am a painter and media artist. (I also dabble in animation as a goal of mine is to be a 2D animator) I love to paint. Painting has been a passion of mine ever since I was introduced to acrylic fumes in my 4th grade art hour. My favorite piece that came from my painting is a piece called “SURPRISE.” It’s a piece I have just finished and was a piece of me coming back into the painting industry after a couple of years from it. I believe the piece represents how I feel about art and how I want my viewers to feel when they see my artwork.

Drawing is another big interest of mine and has been under my tool belt since I was little. I now really focus on using digital art as my main media for my drawings (though pencil and paper are still widely used by me behind the scenes). I enjoy drawing my characters and representing a more colored approach to character design. I would hope to have my hands-on shows that involve more character art and may be able to pitch in a few of my own ideas, but for now, I will continue to enjoy the work I put in myself and my designs as a digital artist.

What does success mean to you?
Success is not always defined as a good thing, as you can successfully do a negative action, but success is the absolute partner of the term ‘completing a goal.’ success, to me, is when you feel like you have achieved what you have marked as a goal. Even a simple goal. Wanting to become something out of yourself is an achievement of its own, and reaching that achievement is a means of success.

I take success very personally. Not only do I want to succeed in my art, but I also want my peers to succeed in their lanes. I feel everyone strives for some success, even if it’s considered a small goal, and I hope for the positive goals that those successes are achieved. I hope to continue to have many successes in my period of life. I can only strive for more, and I am certainly trying to do so.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktree.com/7hero2
• Instagram: instagram.com/7hero2
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006964666900
• Twitter: twitter.com/CeLynEvens
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@7hero2?_t=8VFiNhDw671&_r=1

Image Credits
(All images were taken under my possession. All artwork was created by me.) Photo Captions: 1. Personal digital avatar 2. “SURPRISE” 36 x 48 acrylic 3. Working on ‘Aretha Franklin’ for Black History Month mural. 4. Working on “SURPRISE” 5. “Socks & Shirts” digital media 6. Multiple character designs made by CeLyn