Elijah Castra is an American born child, embarking on his journey through the world of design and content creation. Ever since around the age of 2, Elijah has been drawing random doodles and things that caught his eye. And even now he’ll still watch YouTube videos on how to draw things, and draw it exactly how they did it but add his own flair so it feels more unique. He’s had many people doubt and criticize some of his passions but to that he says “use hatred as a fuel to propel you forward, not as a force to knock you back.” Elijah is now attending city tech as a communication deign (COMD) student, as he learns new skills in graphic design, type media, illustration etc… and see where they will lead him to.
Question 1: Why did you choose your avatar?
I chose my avatar because I feel like it not only represents me as an individual but also a sense of what kind of art style I like. My avatar is a picture where there is a split or ripple down the middle and on each side of that ripple lie one half of 2 different characters from an anime called “The Seven Deadly Sins.” Both of the faces are symmetrical in this picture as their: eyes, hair, mouth ,nose etc… all align with one another. And in relation to me I feel as if it represents my rationality & irrationality. The character on the left would be the side of me that thinks cautiously, is serious about what I’m doing, and makes smart but rational choices. While the character on the right would be the side of me that thinks irrationally, without a real purpose or goal in mind, mostly unfocused or not fully understanding something. Another reason why I picked it would have to be the art style. I just simply like the way how the colors as well as how the characters are designed are perfect complements of one another.
Question 2: Why did you choose this major?
I chose communication design (COMD) because I feel as if it caters best to what I wanna do afterwards, either become a graphic designer or a video game designer or maybe even a combination of both. And through this major I can make this happen. Communication design can help me develop the necessary skills to help make my dream a reality. And this will happen by me first going through the basic classes as nothing can really be started without a solid foundation. Then I will eventually advanced to higher level classes and become one step closer to my dream.
Question 3: Can you see yourself doing anything else?
Well if I’m being 100% honest, yes I can see myself doing something else. Another dream I have that I’d love to be pursuing would be becoming a full time Youtuber / Streamer or as a mode broader term to use a content creator. Yes as silly as it may sound to some that’s something I would love to do and always have for years now, maybe even a decade. With the things I learn in graphic design I can learn how to make my own brand and design it in a way that best represents me. And a content creator( streaming side) I can live stream me drawing, or playing some video games. Or on the video side of things I could make videos of me traveling the world (visiting exotic places and trying new foods), vlogging, me just playing any video game it interested in at the time, having a podcast with my friends etc… And I’m going to use the time at city tech to help better guide/ prepare me to make that other dream possible too. But if it did not pertain to design primarily, I would say another career I can see myself doing is acting.
Question 4: Do you prefer working by yourself or in a group environment?
This is a tough question to answer because while I do enjoy working with other people, at the same time I find it hard to “rely” on a group of people to do the task that the group was assigned. Or to even be willing to function in one cohesive manner. Essentially, what I’m saying is that I prefer working in a group environment ( you kind of have to with this major)but majority of the time the situation at hand push me more towards working by myself.
Question 5: What catches your eye when you look at other people’s work?
I would have to say that just seeing different people perspective’s on their work has to be one of things that catches me first. Everyone has their own unique style of art and the way they perceive things and that’s just always been something that was fascinating to me. Another thing would have to be how much detail someone puts into their work. Majority of the time when people put a lot of detail to time into doing something, you can tell they truly have a passion/dream for it. And that’s something that I always found a liking for.
