Stroke after stroke, erasing any imperfection, never letting a single color outside of its region, artist Emily McShane works on another piece.

McShane, a sophomore, takes Advanced Studio Art III, participates in the AP Art program and creates independent projects outside of school. These projects include films she enters in contests, earning her acceptance as an Official Selectant in the Pegasus Film Festival and the All-American High School Film Festival in Oct. 2022. She also won second place in digital imaging at Young American Talent in the summer of 2022.

“She is very contentious and works hard, on digital art in particular,” said Bobby Weiss, Studio Art III and film teacher.

McShane puts hours into her work, day after day continuing the sketches on paper or on line and working on film.

“I think she has really found a way to connect to digital media in a really meaningful way,” Weiss said.

At first glance, McShane’s themes seem to be girls, fashion and bright colors, but McShane sheds light on topics that aren’t typically covered in some art pieces or forms of media.

“I like to represent stories and underrepresented minorities you don’t usually see,” she said.

She creates her work through a lengthy, delicate process, starting off with ideas and writing them down as soon as they come to mind, even if she can’t start the artwork right away. This ensures she doesn’t toss a potential illustration out the window without giving it the opportunity to be something great.

“Then I will do thumbnail sketches, which are just small drawings that are planning the layout,” McShane said. “After, I will start sketching the full piece, and then from that, I have my process from sketching, to inking, to colors, to shading, to finishing.”

This passion for artistry has been in McShane’s life since she was a toddler. As her motivation to create art fuels her future, she looks for colleges and other choices that relate to this pursuit.

“I am looking at art colleges, and I plan on attending an art school and studying illustration,” McShane said.
The source of this devotion and the effort she puts into her artwork has never been something she could express in a simple sentence.

“I don’t even know how to answer that,” she said.

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