Ryan Muñoz

I arrive at his house and I was asked to follow him as he answered my first question, “When did you start drawing?” “I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a pencil,” said Ryan. Down a hallway there is a room to the left and I am asked to go in. The room is a mess, pencils, color pencils, brushes and art everywhere. The messy room is not new to me; we have been good friends for a very long time. Ryan Muñoz is a young artist in the making who has had an interest in art since a very early. “Everyone draws when they are little, but it’s what you do and how you do it later on what defines it,” he exclaims as I looked at all his art hanging on the wall. Ryan is someone who has created great pieces just from what he learned from his high school art classes.

“I know people see [the pieces] as great, but I can’t help myself and think of what I could have done better.”

We sat down in that messy room and talked for quite a while, I learned so much about him, as if I had met a whole different person, someone different than my best friend. He has taken all his art pieces out to show me them and how detailed they were. All his pieces were great, but it was one that he did his sophomore year of high school that caught my attention. The piece was not his best, but I loved to see how much detailed it had and by just looking at it I knew it must have taken him a while. I proceeded to ask him about art during his childhood and see why might be causing his insecurity. We had never had a conversation about what he normally does and when did he started liking art, also what led to him to be so harsh on himself. “My first little art project was a monster truck; I think it was named the Big Digger. I thought I had done a great job with that drawing and I really loved that feeling. I was a child, and any child thinks their art projects are great and he or she barely judges their results,” explained Ryan, as he stared