By Andrew J. Barnes ’12
THE ROUNDUP

Back in middle school, drawing was  just a small hobby for Brophy senior Oscar Quintana ’12.

But over the years, drawing has been become a huge part of Quintana’s life.

“I started in middle school, but back then can’t be compared to what I can draw today,” Quintana said. “It was mostly squares and circles.”

While he was in grade school, he was heavily influenced by “Toonami,” or a wave of anime shorts shown on Cartoon Network.

The works of anime and Japanese influence, specifically the work of anime artist Shigenori Soejima, really inspired him to draw, Quintana said.

He cites his favorite art teacher at Brophy as Mrs. Debbie Cronin, whom he had for 2D Art Drawing.

“He is a perfectionist, and he has a really good eye for observation,” Mrs. Cronin said. “He is a really hard worker, and he will work on something until he gets it as perfect as he can.”

Quintana mostly draws anime characters and video game creations, like the protagonists in “Mass Effect” or “Persona.”

He also has submitted fan art drawings from time to time with characters from “Marvel vs. Capcom,” “Pokémon” and “Resident Evil.”

A fan art drawing is usually made in the image of a particular character, idea or story and is not created by an original artist, hence the name “fan art.”

One of the best drawings he did was his “Bioshock” fan art drawing, which involved a lot of ink and brushing skills that he got to “test out,” Quintana said.

“My favorite part about drawing is making an image in any way I’m able to make it,” Quintana said.

One of his biggest strengths is that he can focus on one piece at a time; for example, he can focus on someone’s face or a single part of the body and can make a well-detailed drawing out of it, Quintana said.

Quintana’s drawing arsenal of materials includes pencils and brushes, pens and ink, and water color paper and sketchbook paper.

“If I could go to one place in the world to draw it would be Central Square (in New York City) because I would have a great view of everything going on there,” Quintana said.

“It is pretty big so it would be a challenge, but I would take it on and focus on one part of it.”

For Quintana, his side projects for drawing may become a huge part of his life after high school.

“I hope to go into some career that has me drawing, perhaps for a big company,” Quintana said.