Art has always been Taamre Solen’s calling. Since her younger days the thought of making something has been with her. Ever since she was young, drawing has been one of Solen’s passions. “I watched cartoons on my family’s VHS tape,” Solen said, recalling when she first started drawing. At the age of 6, Solen was first inspired to start drawing. 

It first started as a simple hobby, a way to pass the time, but over the years she spent practicing, her art gradually got better. By watching animated movies, Solen started to experiment with a cartoon style. Tom from the show Tom and Jerry was the model for her early practicing. Solen spent most of the day trying her best to replicate the style of the show. When she first started, “it wasn’t that good,” Solen admits. But those days she spent dedicated to drawing eventually paid off. Even though her family discouraged her, wanting her to focus on her studies instead, encouragement from her friends kept her going. 

Nearly 7 years later, art has become a big part of Solen’s life. Her talent for art really shines, the creatures perfectly sketched on the paper. She draws and paints mainly in a cartoon style but also does realism. The subject of her art is animals, inspired from her early childhood years she spent watching The Lion King and Tom and Jerry

 In nearly four years she will be graduating from Arlington Tech and hopes that her classmates and teachers will remember her for who she is, an artist. Solen leaves us with a message to other artists: “Make what you want,” meaning she hopes everyone can create what they want without being restricted.