By Maggie Frail, Staff Writer
One of the most enjoyable parts of Pine Whispers are the comics strips drawn by the one and only senior, Efrain Rivas. Rivas is one of the many artists attending Reynolds that takes advantage of the variety of arts classes available.
“I’m a photographer and I play the piano so I am involved with music, photography, and drawing,” Rivas said.
Even though Rivas enjoys photography and music and other forms of art, he prefers drawing the most, as he has been doing it since he was young.
“I prefer drawing,” Rivas said. “It’s because I’ve been doing it since I was only two years old and I just kind of stuck with it.”
Rivas has been the cartoonist for Pine Whispers for the last year and a half, and has been happy to be a member of the staff.
“Once I saw what he was capable of doing I asked him if he would be willing to work with us, and he said absolutely,” Newspaper Advisor Traci Latta said
Even though Rivas finds it easy to put an idea onto paper, he does have some difficulties with some of the ideas that come to him.
“I’m not very good with my ideas, I get a lot of brainstorms and I can’t control that,” Rivas said, explaining why he can easily struggle with his artwork. “I get mad at my own art sometimes because I just can’t control myself thinking about what I’m drawing.”
Sometimes it can be hard for artists to come up with inspiration, but Rivas easily finds his inspiration from the things around him in his everyday life.
“I get my inspiration from things people tell me,” said Rivas “I get inspiration from daily things that I do.”
One reason Rivas is good at what he does is because he is not afraid to talk to people he doesn’t know, so that he can get a picture of them, enabling him to draw them.
Rivas didn’t come to Reynolds for the arts program like many artists, but has definitely gotten more and more involved since his sophomore year.
He didn’t take any drawing classes his freshman year but he took many when he was a sophomore. The first time Rivas got really involved with the arts program was last year when he created his own club; the cartoon club.
Not only is Rivas a substantial artist, but he is also a fun person to be around.
“He always has a smile on his face and always wants to know what’s going on and how are you doing. He’s just a very friendly guy,” Latta said.