Meet Ayana Marquez, a 21-year-old fine arts student from UPD, who's making a name for herself. Ayana reignited her passion for art during the pandemic and has since become a freelance artist, working on various projects and collaborations. She's also started streaming her art on Twitch, sharing her creative process with the world.
Ayana draws inspiration from herself and other artists, but her favorite is Mori Chack, the creator of Gloomy Bear. Ayana has been collecting his stuffed toys for over a year now, and she keeps them close to her workspace for inspiration. She also looks up to artists such as Yonigiri and Kuvshinov Ilya, who have influenced her unique style.
"I find that my sense of style bleeds through my art and vice versa," she said. "A well known gurokawaii artist I take inspiration from is Mori Chack. He’s the creator of Gloomy Bear. I’ve been collecting his stuffed toys for over a year now with almost 40 pieces in my collection. I keep my gloomy wall right beside my workspace so if I ever need a spark of inspiration I don’t really need to search far. Other artists I take inspiration from are Yonigiri and Kuvshinov Ilya."
Ayana's art style is gurokawaii, where she makes gore bearable to look at, even pretty. Her Instagram feed is filled with pretty girls, with the occasional BAM-in-your-face gore. She also dabbles in fan art, pixel art, chibi, and surrealism. Ayana believes that not having a consistent art style isn't a bad thing, but rather it's called having range.
Finding direction in life through art
Despite being conditioned to believe that the starving artist trope was real and that being an artist meant earning no money, Ayana always knew she wanted to become an artist. After burning out in 11th grade, she took a break from science and found direction in life through art once again.
"Growing up, I was conditioned into thinking that the starving artist trope was real and that you’ll earn no money as an artist when you grow up," Ayana shared. "So for the entirety of my junior high years, I studied in a science high school, my parents were preparing me to become a doctor. I had it all planned out: I would graduate STEM in junior high, continue STEM in senior high, apply for a pre-med and then med school; art could’ve just been an old friend I would visit after all of this. But I burnt out real bad in 11th grade and was sort of just lost and didn’t know what to do in terms of my schooling for 4 years. I’m somewhat thankful I did. It allowed for me to visit that “old friend” earlier on and I found direction in life through art once more."
Her determination and passion for the arts have led her to become one of the rising stars in the art scene. With her impressive range of art styles and her willingness to explore new mediums, Ayana is poised to do more big stuff in the future. Her talent and dedication to her craft are sure to bring her even more success in the art world.
You can check out Ayana's art on all her social media channels, including Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and YouTube, all under the handle @aeyochi. Follow her for a quirky and unique take on art!
