Juan Estrada: Breaking the Ice

So my name is Juan Estrada... pleased to meet you! =) . I was born in Inglewood, Ca. to two wonderful, hardworking parents always striving for a better future for their family. Growing up in Inglewood, a predominantly black and Latino neighborhood and not looking black (nor Latino came with its share of challenges. At a young age i was conflicted with self doubt and constantly questioned my identity. As I grew older, these insecurities fueled my passion in art, making it one of the few things I felt I could use as a way to express myself. Graffiti on the walls around town peaked my interest in street art. I always admired how these names were written, not necessarily as an aesthetically pleasing form of art but more as a performance piece. Being young and rebellious, I was also fascinated at the whole "illegal" aspect of it as well and how much det

ermination and skill it took to write in the most unrea

chable spots. As I went on to high school, I also found it important to be familiar with the princi

pals of art as well. I expanded my horizons and be

gan to experiment with other media and techniques.

My main goal for this class is to become much more familiar with technology and how I am able to incorporate it in my artwork. I have always h

ad this very negative biased opinion about digital art and never cared much for it. I hope that taking this class will get me to appreciate it a lot more.

These are a couple of my most recent projects.

Sketches