“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“What is your passion?”

“What are you going to study?”

These post-graduation decisions may be hard for most, but senior Jacob Faulk had no problem assuring his family what goals he had in mind.

Faulk said he has always been artistic, and he has and always been the one to go over the top with his talents. His passion is creating art and making people smile through his creations, from clothing to drawings.

Self-taught, Faulk started creating digital art pieces as a sophomore when he got an iPhone, but as he began to take it more seriously he upgraded to a MacBook and uses Photoshop.

“I taught myself all of my art talents by physically sitting down and taking hours looking at the buttons, hovering over them and seeing what everything does,” Faulk said. “I apply it and see the transitions they make until I engrave what they do in my mind.”

The most common art that Faulk does is a commit edit, where he creates a piece highlighting where an athlete has committed to and what sport they will play. He also has been working on artist and album covers lately. One piece Faulk made was for senior Kyle Croteau and featured him cradling a ball in lacrosse with the Adidas and Saint Leo University logo behind him. The background was a splatter-paint design with the school’s colors, green and yellow.

Senior Vaughn Grissom is the first person Faulk worked with and now they often work together on digital art. Grissom enjoys giving ideas to Faulk and letting him take the ideas and do what he wants with them.

“Although I give him ideas at time, the way [Faulk] makes the art is very unique,” Grissom said. “When you teach yourself how to do certain things, you give it a signature. I think he could go far with it.”

Faulk creates the art pieces on his own time to ensure quality and to avoid lack of motivation. He can go from working on a project for five to six hours at a time to going weeks without going on his computer.

“I have to be motivated and moved because I want to feel the work and passion put into each piece that I make,” Faulk said.

Despite not creating the art for weeks at a time, Faulk has no doubt that art is his passion. It not only brings him a lot of joy but he is also able to clear his mind.

“Digital art brings me time to myself that is like no other. I can make a good day out of a bad day just from going on my computer or grabbing a pencil and either drawing or making a digital art piece,” Faulk said.

His brother, Nick Lawhon is a digital artist as well and has had the opportunity to create art for the Smith family—Will, Jaden and Jada. His story has made Faulk want to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

Faulk will be attending Valencia to study art and after two years he plans to transfer into Creative Village, an art-based program at the University of Central Florida.

“I am hoping to make this a career I can live off and support my family off of in the future,” Faulk said. “I know it will take me many places and I will be able to see everything I want to see.”

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