Elen Tsarkuyan is a junior at Glendale High School, and she was born in Yerevan, Armenia. She loves to dance and sing, cook and bake, and do her makeup. 

Elen’s main passion is drawing, and she describes her artwork as vintage and expressional. Most of her artwork is inspired by her own imagination, and she also likes to paint on vintage clothing pieces. She experiments painting with textile colors, and she likes to draw portraits of people from different cultures and religions. 

Elen got into art at a young age, when her grandmother noticed that she loved “to sketch different characters from different movies.” She also mentioned that her father was an artist, and he loved to draw objects from nature. From there on, Elen explored how to sketch with realistic textures, and art was a way for her to further explore the English language. 

On average, it takes Elen six to seven hours to complete a single art piece. She loves to draw portraits of Lana Del Rey in different settings. Del Rey is her favorite artist, and her music “motivated me to visualize my own concepts of drawing.”

Elen is a part of the Drawing and Painting and Digital Arts classes on campus. In Drawing and Painting, students draw using art materials, such as pastels and watercolors, and in Digital Arts, students draw on computers using different animation skills. Elen is also a part of the Art Club, and club members recently worked on sketching anime characters solely from their own memories. 

Elen feels that art has been an outlet for her to express her emotions. She recalled that during the COVID-19 lockdown, she felt insecure about her future goals. Drawing was a way for her to gain more self-confidence, and “it gave me a sense of inner peace and happiness.”

In the near future, Elen plans on creating a YouTube channel, where she can show off her different art pieces. She ultimately wants to be a fashion designer, and she has even come out with her first hoodie design. Makeup is also something that she is passionate about, and she is thinking of joining our Cosmetology program next year. 

We love having amazing Nitro artists like Elen here on our campus. If you would like to be a part of our Visual and Performing Arts classes next year, check out the GHS website for more information. Also, check out our VAPA page to see more amazing artwork by previous Nitro students. 

Stay artsy, Nitros!