Welcome back to the weekly Green Level artist feature! Every week, we interview a student about their work and advice to other artists. This week, we’re turning the spotlight on Payton Kustka and her beautiful digital and traditional art.

Payton Kustka is a junior at Green Level. Her interest in art began about four years ago when she began experimenting with colored pencils. Since then, she’s been improving traditionally while working with other mediums too. “I’ve slowly started working on character design digitally,” she explains. Her skills shine through paper and Photoshop.

“Currently I focus on digital art using a Wacom Tablet and Photoshop, but I still have a soft spot for traditional mediums,” Payton says. Her colored pencil pieces are vibrant and hyperrealistic. She focuses on animals and people as her subjects and uses toned papers to build up values. When she switches to digital, character design is her main focus. Payton’s versatility lets her go from cartoony to realistic and back like it’s nothing–her digital art is dynamic and uses unique perspectives and accurate anatomy to pop out of the screen. 

Payton shares her art on her Instagram, @perspective_expressions. The account, which displays pieces from as early as 2016 and has about 700 followers, shows her growth as an artist as well as any portfolio. Her number one piece of advice to other artists is that practice makes progress. “The thing that has helped me more than anything is literally just practice! While I look to other artists, tutorials, etc. for specific skills and techniques, practice is what has really helped me improve as an artist,” she says.

In the past four years, Payton’s style has evolved from simpler works to detailed masterpieces. Whether she’s using colored pencils or a computer, her art is beautiful and intricate. She’s a fantastic student artist!

Thank you to Payton Kustka for her interview! If you would like to recommend yourself or another student for our artist spotlights, please email [email protected]!