Through the Instagram hashtags of “dark illustration” and “digital art” or the halls of Community High School, one particular individual makes a mark on both surrounding communities. Community senior Deven Jones is a growing freelance artist that mostly creates artwork with digital applications and drawings pads, though not afraid to dabble in paint markers and spray paint. As for categorizing his artwork, Jones’ describes his artwork in a fairly unique way.

The senior artist began creating art when he was four years old. A couple scribbled daisies or some wiggly stick figures were concepts Jones never practiced. Instead, he drew evil robots.

“I mostly drew them because they looked cool,” said Jones. “I’ve always liked making ominous and kind of creepy artwork.”

Since then, his technique has progressed and developed into a style that are most often delineations of “evil skeleton people”. Jones’ process for creating his meticulous artwork starts with finding inspiration. With endless scrolling on Instagram and Pinterest, he looks for outlandish photos.

“I try to take classic images that are a little vintage with photos or mugshots,” said Jones. “I draw out their clothing and find some skull references online. I think I should try to get a permanent skull model. Not a real skull, though.”

Jones executes his artwork in a fashion that showcases his inspiration from artists such as Matt Bailey and Tim Burton. Working mostly in grey-scale and some occasional red, Jones is not a fan of colors for reasons unknown.

“If I were to categorize my art, I’d say that it’s randomized,” said Jones. “I change it a lot depending if it’s linear or not. I would also say that it’s mostly black and white.”

Though is parents work in construction, a majority of Jones’ family lives in California. In hopes of growing his audience and artistic maturity, he plans on moving to Orange County, California to live with his grandparents and to work with his aunt, who happens to be a freelance artist as well.

“[My aunt] wants to hire me and I think that could help me get started,” said Jones. “She does websites for famous people like Bruce Lee and Fortnite. I’m not sure that I want to go into graphic design but I think it could be a good start.”

Living with his grandparents in California would heavily expose him to some of the greatest artists in the country. With more than 200,000 artists living in the large areas of California (CityLab, 2016), Jones plans to work as an artist full time.

“I’d like to be successful without having a real job,” said Jones. “I wouldn’t consider it a real job because I guess no manual labor is involved. It’s hard work, but it’s not for a major corporation or anything like that besides your own.”

Before moving out to the West Coast, Jones is spending his time with his five brothers and creating album covers for his little brother’s future band projects. Jones’ Instagram is open for commissions or questions at “_lankybrain_” and will continue to post his brilliant artwork for months to come.