Nathan Julien has been drawing for at least half of his ten years, and he’s continually evolving. He alternates between three styles: traditional cartoon, semi-realistic, and realism.
Nathan is one of 35 artists aged 17 and under participating in the Rotunda Gallery’s exhibition Heroes: A Child’s Perspective. Nathan’s painting features his grandfather, Everol Bruce, a retired police officer.
Nathan said he chose to honour his grandfather for a few reasons.
[caption id="attachment_1048264" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Nathan Julien and his grandfather Everol Bruce pose with Nathan's portrait of Bruce at the Rotunda Gallery at the Red House as part of the exhibition Heroes: A Child's Perspective. - Evelena Bruce[/caption]
“He took his work as a police officer very seriously and served his country for many years. He is the kind of person that anyone can call on for help. But the biggest reason I chose him as my hero is because he always looks out for me and my sister. He is generous, hardworking and he makes everyone around him feel safe.”
Nathan is the son of journalist Joel Julien and artist Evelena. He thinks he inherited his love for art from his mother, with whose help he came up with the web series Nate's Super Little Show that was featured on Trinidad and Tobago Television during the pandemic. In the series, Nathan explained the world around him from his point of view.
“Her genes just came down to me I guess. I think I was born loving art, though I can’t remember how my art used to be, or when I started drawing. It was probably when I could hold a pencil.”
He said he does both traditional and digital art but prefers digital art because it doesn’t need as much material and it takes less time.
[caption id="attachment_1048266" align="alignnone" width="775"] Nathan Julien with his sister Aiko at the Rotunda Gallery, Port of Spain. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
“Digital art is just one thing, a tablet or your finger or a stencil, like that. When I’m doing traditional art, I mostly use a pencil, paper, and an eraser, of course. My mom allows me to use her pens or markers when I’m drawing, so I use those too. Sometimes I try painting, but I’m not that good. Trust me, when I try to make browns, those browns don’t look like brown, they look more like purple.
“The portrait of my grandfather was done in acrylic, ink and watercolour. My mom was the one who suggested using the paint to make it pop more.”
Nathan said he is good at drawing characters, but not landscapes. His main inspiration is anime.
“I’m not that good at landscapes but if I try well enough, I could make it look half decent. If I want to do a big piece, I would do an animated semi-realistic style.
[caption id="attachment_1048267" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Nathan Julien at the Rotunda Gallery, where his artwork is being featured in the gallery's Heroes: A Child's Perspective exhibit. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
“But I do lots of portraits of anime characters, I’m a very big anime fan. One Piece, My Hero Academia, and Demon Slayer
