Digital art students have been preparing for this weekend’s Space Coast Art Festival in Viera. Digital art teacher James Finch has been encouraging his students to think more about their art than they have previously, and the art festival is an opportunity to show what they’ve learned.

“I’ve been learning a lot more about realism and creating interesting compositions this year,” sophomore and digital art student Cassidy Corey said. “Mr. Finch has been pushing me to think about each composition more than I usually would, letting me make more art that I genuinely love.”

Students have other art projects that they’re working on at the same time.

“We just finished a surrealism piece and have been putting in artwork for the Space Coast art festival this weekend,” Corey said. “Getting prints and that into class and paperwork submitted has been tiring, but all of my art has been put in. I’ve just started working on a still life composition and the photos I’m going to use for reference.”

Finch introduces his students to various types of art, many of which his students create for themselves.

“I’ve mostly been getting assignments that center around recreating and showing the general impression of real-life subjects,” Corey said. “We’ve been creating a lot of photographic edits, then painting a different photo we took. From taking digital art, I’ve started trying out more styles and developing my own way of rendering farther than I thought I would. Being able to have a whole class period to work on art and just focus on one piece at a time has definitely improved my relationship with taking the time I need on each.”

By Caelan McIlwraith