Everyone has that one hobby that keeps them sane, that they couldn’t live without. For senior Isaiah Kim, art is that escape.

“It’s one of my best coping mechanisms with all the stress that I deal with in life. When I draw, I zone out, like nothing is really around me and I’m just going until I’m done, and then I’m done and then I’m out. So it just gets my mind off of everything. All the stressful bullcrap that I have to deal with in life — it’s just gone. It’s my own world, and it’s kind of weird — I’m not saying I have a god complex, but I can do whatever I want with it. I’m God when I’m drawing.”

Kim typically draws in grayscale, using pencil and paper or charcoal, though he has recently been getting into using more color.

Though Kim has had an affinity for drawing and producing art of all mediums (even playdoh) for most of his life, he feels that when he really began to see drastic improvement in his work was after taking a figure drawing class at Wenatchee Valley College. His instructor helped change his outlook on his own art.

“The reason I progressed so much over the last few years is I used to be so satisfied with my art. I’d be like ‘oh this is pretty good, I’m done.’ But whenever I draw now I’m always like ‘what’s wrong with this? I don’t like this right now, so what can I do to fix this?’” Kim said. “People expect that you draw and it’s done, you know? But it’s a lot of drawing, erasing, drawing, erasing, and you just keep on going, constantly correcting it. I honestly think most of my art pieces are never finished. I’m done working on it but there’s definitely more I could work on.”

Over the years, Kim has been enrolled in countless classes and private lessons in various mediums, from pastels to ceramics, and he is now taking a directed study for art at the high school. Kim plans to take art classes as electives in college, and will probably be enrolling in various art classes for the rest of his life.
“I don’t think that you can ever stop learning about art; there’s not like one artist where I feel like they have it on lock; they’re just the best artist in the world. I don’t think there ever was or ever will be, cause with art you can always improve a little bit more,” Kim said. “I feel like if you draw someone, there’s no way in hell you can actually make it 100 percent identical. There’s still going to be something a tiny bit off with it.”

And what does Kim do with all of his completed pieces? He gives them away; the only ones he has framed in his home are some of his (less impressive) work from elementary school. Even though he enjoys painting and drawing immensely, and most likely has the talent to make it in the business of being a starving artist, Kim can’t see himself choosing that road.

“I don’t think I could ever be in a career where I have to paint and I have a deadline and I’m like ‘oh God I have to make this painting and I just don’t even know what to do.’” Kim said. “I think if I had [art] as a job, it would just take the whole entire fun out of it. I just don’t want to be like pushing out paintings, and that’s my only source of money.”

That said, Kim plans to pursue a career helping others through their own problems as a therapist, and is considering going into art therapy.

The most rewarding part of Kim’s pastime isn’t being complimented or winning awards, but rather the opportunity to draw portraits.

“I love drawing faces, cause I feel like you can’t fully understand the beauty and complexity of a person until you draw them,” Kim said. “You can look at a girl and be like ‘oh dang, she’s hot,’ you know? But when you start drawing her, and drawing every single little detail, you’re like ‘wow she has really beautiful eyes’ or ‘whoa her lips are so weird looking.’ There’s something about looking deeper into the person and actually trying to draw something that looks identical to them that’s incredible to me.”