Art Student Lyric, waxes poetic about art

Lyric Bishop is a Niwot High School junior interested in all aspects of art. Technical Theater teacher Jason Watkins said, "Lyric is an exceptional and profoundly optimistic person. Lyric is always uplifting to be around. No matter the stress or complexities of a show, Lyric can be depended upon to always come through to make a production the best it can be for the audience. Lyric has taken quite a few courses from us: 2D Design, Beginning, Intermediate & Advance Drawing, Digital Photography, Production Theatre and Technical Theatre. So uniquely qualified, Lyric is now a teacher assistant to the Fine Arts Department."

Lyric laughed surprisedly when he read the profile written by one of Lyric's teachers. Guessing which of Lyric's three art teachers could have penned the complimentary description, Lyric said, "I have a pretty good idea of which teacher may have submitted that."

Lyric always found art interesting, and added, "It's a way to be creative and to express that creativity." The first experience which cemented Lyric's interest in art occurred while Lyric was an elementary school student in Firestone. While attending Carbon Valley Academy - K-8 Charter School, a teacher noticed Lyric's drawing of dragons and fairies and asked Lyric to draw additional fairies, and was impressed by Lyric's early talent. The drawing was chosen to be featured in an official Carbon Valley Academy art show.

"I use a mix of colored pencils, gel pens and felt tips, more for the coloring aspect and ability to use brighter colors, in my art." Lyric said of their favorite media to use while drawing cartoons and other art. Another favorite is digital art; Lyric said they use the inking tools available in Procreate, a very popular digital art application.

These types of tools are ubiquitous because users can create art across their devices and upload to display their work. Lyric said they are inspired by other similar artists. "I feel like viewing other artists' work helps me to develop my drawing style." Like other artists, Lyric uses the social media platform Instagram to upload the digital images created from the various tools in Procreate. "I'm still working on my style; it's not fully developed, but it's kind of like 'anime' (a Japanese style of cartoon drawing)."

In fact, cartoons have become Lyric's special passion and Lyric is now a member of the NHS Green and Black newspaper team as the newspaper's cartoonist. The newspaper featured Lyric's first cartoon and Lyric is currently working on one for the final issue of the school year.

Lyric will be a Senior at NHS next year and says they'll consider a double major of Fine Arts and Childhood Education for college. While Lyric hasn't decided exactly just yet, it sounds like a degree at Metro or UNC may be in the cards.

As a teacher's assistant for three different teachers in the Fine Arts program at NHS, Lyric has varied experiences. "I love being an Art Department Aid," Lyric said. "It's not just supporting one teacher, so it's really fun to see what the teachers are doing with art each day."

Follow Lyric's art and drawings on their Instagram page, handle here: dorkyroyaltyart