Graphic design has been around for centuries. Most often, you don’t recognize it because graphic design can range anywhere from fifteenth-century page fabrication, to the typography on your newest website. Pioneers in graphic design have opened up windows of opportunity for Tahoma students and created new ways for them to trailblaze in their own artwork. This is the case for many students taking 2-D AP Digital Graphics this year.

Tahoma High School’s very own Aidan Mercado and Brooklyn Shipley are particularly excellent art students. Taught by Mrs. McCoy, students of the 2-D AP Digital Graphics class learn a variety of skills and tools for graphic design, including utilizing Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Over the course of the school year, Digital Graphics students work intensely to create artwork for their portfolio that they will turn in on the AP test date in May.

Shipley, a Tahoma sophomore, described her type of art compared to a traditional artist “which is your paper, pen, paint, stuff like that. I’m more of a digital artist which is you’re only focusing on the digital aspects of drawing and creating logos…” Shipley reports that she is focusing on character design, particularly picking out the demons inside a person as she tackles the theme of the seven deadly sins.

Tahoma junior, Aidan Mercado, described his own work, saying, “I just try to find different meaning in things and then use my past work and build on it. My past styles. So I just stay in my comfort zone. But I also try to do something that nobody else would usually think of.” Mercado mainly works on self-portraits and creating art with more unnatural colors.

When asked about advice for other artists, Mercado advised that “[you] just mess around and once you figure out something clicks, then you just stick to it.” Currently, Mercado described that he is working on his styles of art in order to create “different ranges of work” for his AP portfolio. He described his process as “trying to go outside of [his] comfort level.” Shipley took a more academic approach to her situation, saying, “Art is a skill that I have and that I’m advanced in. So why not use that to get credits that I can use in the future and that looks better on my transcript, too?”

Every individual has their own style of art, whether it be stick figures or amazing portraits, but AP students peak a particular interest in anyone’s perception of the arts in their graphic designs. As the year goes on, Tahoma wishes these students the best of luck on their work as these students continue to lead their own legacy in their classes.