What the HECK is BYU?

Anyone who has met me inevitably realizes one thing: I'm sort of in love with BYU. For those of you who have absolutely no idea what BYU is, no worries, you're not alone. If I had a dollar for every time I had to explain BYU to someone... well, I'd have something like 16 dollars. But the numbers aren't important!! What's important right now is that I adequately explain BYU to you, so I'll never have to explain it again (one can hope, right?).

BYU stands for Brigham Young University. I know, quite a mouthful, right? It's a school located in the quaint city of Provo, Utah. The campus is overlooked by a gigantic Y imprinted on the side of a mountain. There's a long, complicated story as to why exactly there's a singular Y on the side, but for the sake of your sanity (and for my fingers, which are starting to cramp up), I'll just leave it at that.

I'm just gonna come right out and say it. I'm a mormon. I know it, I live it, I love it (anyone who's LDS is undoubtedly cracking up right now at that insider). BYU is a school that was established by the church back in 1875 (the fact that I know that is a perfect demonstration of my devotion to this school).

Anyways, from a very young age I've been exposed to that school. My parents went there, my brother recently graduated from there, and my sister just got accepted there. So it's safe to say I have a sufficient amount of pressure on me to attend that university. But it's my dream school, and I'm up for the challenge.

What do I love about BYU? So many things... The atmosphere, the Wasatch mountains, the BYU Creamery ice cream. But more than anything, I love the sports. I'm about the biggest BYU football and basketball fanatic there is. I can tell you what year they won the national championship, who the athletic director is, how many freckles are on Taysom Hill's nose (I can't actually tell you that last one, let's be honest, that'd be more than a little creepy).

Taysom Hill in his awesome Royal Blue uniform...

My passion for BYU has inspired quite a few drawings, a lot of which I've given away, unfortunately. However, I still have a few of the mediocre ones, I hope you guys like them :)

For the Record, Batman is WAY cooler than Captain America... No offense.

I honestly have no idea why, but superheroes have always been a bit of an infatuation of mine. I'd like to say it's because of their acts of valor and selflessness, but in reality, it's undoubtedly just because they look so freaking cool in their uniforms. Ever since I saw the movie Iron Man, he's been my favorite. I think it might have something to do with Robert Downey Jr.'s unique sense of humor, not to mention the awesome noise his hand makes when he's about to shoot something out of it.

Iron Man's helmet, a picture I painted for my brother, John, in 2012.

Yet another picture of Iron Man (I may be a little obsessed). Please ignore the face, I know, not very heroic, right?

Batman is definitely a close second. Once again, I had no interest in him until after the movies came out. As soon as I first got a glimpse of Christian Bale in his Dark Knight uniform, I was hooked. For those of you who haven't seen the trilogy (what, have you been living under a rock for the past few years?), I wholeheartedly recommend it.

 Honestly? Captain America has never been one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm unpatriotic or something (in fact, quite the opposite. You should see me on the 4th of July). It's just he always lacked pizzazz for me, you know? That totally changed after I saw the most recent movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (do you see a recurring pattern here?). The painting you see here was for my sister's friend's birthday. Apparently she's a Captain America fan. You're welcome.

Needless to say, I have some growing up to do. 16 years old and still obsessed with superheroes? I should be focusing my efforts on something more worthwhile, like school... Ehhh... I think I'll stick with superheroes.

Here's a picture of Thor's hammer... We wouldn't want him feeling left out, now would we?

My Story

I've been meaning to do something like this for a long while now, but of course, the usual excuses came to mind.

Ehhh. It'll be too much work...

What if nobody likes or reads it?

I'd rather watch the Walking Dead...

Like most kids, I loved drawing. You could often find me locked up in my bedroom with a crayon in one hand and a pad of paper in the other, earnestly scribbling my latest masterpiece (usually a deformed picture of Spiderman). However, as the years progressed, I gradually lost interest in my craft, only picking up a pencil and brush when absolutely essential, for schoolwork and the like. I just didn't think anything I created truly qualified as real art.

One day a few years ago I happened upon a book that has changed my outlook on life, The Creative License by Danny Gregory. In the book, Danny encourages us to discover the beauty all around us by... you guessed it... drawing. It sounded pretty dang fun to me, and with a lot of encouragement from my granny, I decided to try it.

My early efforts were more than a little embarrassing, but after a while, drawing and seeing became natural to me. Sure, I still do some pretty crappy drawings (more than I'd care to admit), but I just move right on to the next drawing.

The first drawing in my first sketchbook.

A picture of my hand that I drew earlier today.

   

Ever since I started, I’ve developed an interest in not only drawing, but painting as well, specifically watercolor painting. It’s seriously the best feeling in the world finishing a painting, taking a step back, and admiring your artwork (I take it back, the best feeling in the world is waking up and realizing you still have more time to sleep, but this is a close second).

I hope to post a lot of my drawings and paintings on this blog, along with the going-ons of my life. Hopefully you enjoy it!!

Special SHOUTOUT to my Granny for getting me started with all this stuff and believing in me!! You’re one of the best artists I know, and I love you so much.