Mercer Artist: Ali Austin, a visual artist with a love for digital art

Ali Austin is a second year student at Mercer University. While she is majoring in psychology, her passion is art. Austin specializes in visual art through a variety of mediums. These mediums include traditional pencil and paper drawings, painting with both acrylic and watercolor paints, digital art, graphic design and some photography. Austin has been interested in art from a very young age.

“One of my earliest memories is mixing finger paint with my grandmother at her house,” Austin said.

She said that the first thing that really got her into art was the strict rules in her house, which were that from Monday until school ended on Friday, she was not allowed to watch television. This caused Austin to be more interested in reading and drawing.

The second thing that really solidified her path towards art was being a part of the art club at her school.

“In fifth grade, when we all had to choose between chorus, art club or band, I chose art club, and I suppose I never looked back,” Austin said.

Austin always knew that art would become a large part of her life. Austin is now a second year psychology major and art minor at Mercer. Her love of art has shaped her into the person that she is today.

“It’s always been something I invested a lot of time in and found a lot of joy in; it’s always kind of been an identity of mine, something I’m known for and something I know within myself,” Austin said.

Austin’s style of drawing varies from cartoonish to more realistic, both with digital art as well as drawings with a pencil and paper.

“I usually do more stylized, cartoonish drawings, and occasionally a kind of blend between realism and my usual drawing style,” Austin said.

Austin’s interests in artists range from more modern day digital artists to more classical and postmodern artists. While classically she is interested in artists such as Caravaggio and Bernini, she also enjoys artists and the types of media that are found online.

“I’m a big fan of the concepts and philosophy of Modernism and Postmodernism,” Austin said.

Austin plans on pursuing a career in psychology, though she does plan on continuing her career with art as a freelancer.

“It’s just not a steady enough job market for me to feel confident putting all of my eggs in one basket,” Austin said. “I definitely want it to keep being a part of my life.”