For artist Cali Earp, it was her love of animation that initiated her journey to become an artist. As a child, Cali was fascinated by old-school anime, classic Disney, Marvel comics and the like. She taught herself to draw as she attempted to recreate cartoon and anime characters. She practiced at home and at school, often getting into trouble for drawing while she was meant to be doing schoolwork. But the joy of creating, Cali discovered, was a balm to the social anxiety she suffered from, even as a child. When she drew, she felt calmer, more at peace with herself and the world. “Drawing has always helped me express things when words failed me,” she told us. “I still find a lot of peace in that.”
As Cali’s mother witnessed the development of her daughter’s talents, she began to encourage Cali to take her talent seriously and to begin creating original art rather than copying the work of others.
Even as an adult, Cali still loves anime and classic animation, and she allows the dynamism of those styles to influence her work today. While she still loves drawing the most, she also works in watercolors, Copic markers, and with a digital art program called Clip Studio Paint.
Cali isn’t much of a planner when it comes to executing her work. “I’d rather just get right to it,” she says. When she gets the urge to create, she’ll turn on some music, gather her supplies, and let her creativity flow. That doesn’t mean she’s not mindful about her creative process, however. “I try to be very expressive with my work. All the artistic choices I make have some meaning to me—for example, I might choose to use very bold line work when drawing a character to help express their personality, or I may choose a certain color because it calls to mind a specific emotion for me.”
For inspiration, Cali pulls from her emotive world, often physically expressing things she feels inside. Other media is often the source of those emotions, things like the books she has read, or movies she has watched, or even a song she has heard that stirs something within in her. She then pours those feelings out in her artwork.
Cali, who works as a middle school art teacher, finds a lot of satisfaction as she works with her students. In turn, those students inspire her in her own work. “I never cease to be amazed by the energy and creativity I witness each day,” she says. “They drive me to keep creating and trying new things myself.”
Cali believes strongly in the improving influences of art upon a community. “When people spend time with art,” she says, “they develop a keener eye for their surroundings, and I think that can only help people to see how much potential there is to add beauty to our lives, and even to the city we live in.”
As for personal goals, Cali would like to try her hand at writing and illustrating. “As long as I can keep making things that make me happy, I’ll be content.”
To see more of Cali’s work, visit the Instagram account she shares with her sister, Amanda, also an artist, @earpartworks.
