AP Senior Art student Maiah “Finn” Claflin, has been doing a lot of digital art while in his classes. He stays very focused and dedicated to his artwork as he puts his imagination to the test.He puts in his headphones and turns on music while he works, helping him block out anything he doesnt need for his art. He works slowly and carefully, paying attention to the small details to make sure they stand out and give a story. 

Claflin has been in art classes all through high school. He believes the motivation started at a young age and has just developed from there into a passion of his. 

“There wasn’t really a start for my inspiration,” Claflin said. “I just did a lot of drawing when I was younger and it developed.” 

Claflin has been drawing ever since he was a kid and wants to turn it into a career after high school. He finds inspiration in the shows he watches and games he plays.

“I’m not sure when I realized that I wanted to do art as a career but when I was probably 13-14ish,“ Claflin said. “I was really into cartoons and saw some of the processes done to create animations and thought that would be something interesting to pursue.”

Claflin said he doesn’t really have an artist he looks up to, but often gets tons of inspiration from his friends and from his own imagination. Two of Claflin’s favorite things to draw are art of his own characters and games. He likes telling a story with his art and finds it important that his art represents something.His classmates think that he’s very talented and can definitely make this into a living with his artistic abilities.  

“I think his art is really good,” Senior Charles Doop said. “He could definitely make a living off of it and make good money.”

Claflin plans on going to college to further support his career with his art. He plans on applying at the Kansas City Art Institute and making it a life-long career. 

Sophomore Laney Dykes has found his art really interesting and enjoys seeing what he comes up with. 

“I love Finn,” Dykes said. “His art is really amazing and I can definitely see him having a future in animation or something.” 

Claflin has support from himself and his classmates on his choice of career. He has a plan for his career and is very inspirational about what he enjoys doing. 

“My favorite form of art is digital art,” Claflin said. “I’ve been working with it for years so I’m really familiar with it and I like to think I’m pretty good at it.”

Claflin works on his art pad with a gentle and sensitive hand, while also paying attention to those smaller details to get them the way he needs. He uses his eye to fix them, to make them look better or to stand out more against the bigger details. His passion for the piece is left on the screen and it takes on a life of its own.