Holland College grad's illustration wins big in national art competition

Paul Atwood has been named a regional winnerin theBMO1st Art! competition.

A recent graduate of Holland College, heentered hisdigital illustration "Group Emotion" into the national art contest at the suggestion of an instructor.

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"She knew about the competition and the basis of the competition is it's focused on post-secondary art students in their graduating year," Atwood said, adding it was a great opportunity to help students showcase their talent.

"I knew April wanted her students to do that, to get out there and to try to make the most of the skills they learned so I submitted it and here we are."

'They're a little bit strange looking'

Atwood said his digital illustration of a crowd of individuals started off as hand drawn before scanning them and tracing the characters on his computer.

Atwood's final illustration shows the crowd bunched together, each with adifferent emotion on their face depicting the many different expressions people havein everyday life, he said.

"When I decided to make this I was thinking about how whenever I was out in public, like in crowds, you could notice specific people and they all could have different things that set them apart from other people," he said.

Atwood said he believed his illustration had a distinct style to it that attracted the judges, particularly because "it's a little bit weird," he said.

"If you look at the people, they're a little bit strange looking."

Atwood said he hopes the regional win will give his work more exposure with what he's doing as "the more people that can see your work, the better."

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