Gabby Ismail, a freshman at SCVi, recently appeared on the “Eye On The Valley” radio show to talk about her art and school experience.
Ismail has been a student in the iLEAD school program since seventh grade. At only fourteen years old she has illustrated a children’s book and created art used by a skateboard company.
“I love SCVi,” Ismail said.
SCVi Charter School in Santa Clarita is a project-based learning school where students learn primarily by completing projects. Ismail explained that her favorite project so far was an aeronautics project that SCVi offers to their eighth graders.
The aeronautics project had students learn about the intricacies of airplanes and flight. The final part of the project had students climb into the cockpit of a glider airplane and fly alongside a certified pilot.
Ismail says that she discovered her passion for art at a very young age.
“I’ve loved art all my life,” Ismail added.
She creates arts in many different styles. While her favorite medium is paint she also creates drawings and sculptures.
One of Ismail’s biggest accomplishments so far is that she has illustrated a published children’s book title “A Bug Needs Love.”
The opportunity to illustrate “A Bug Needs Love” came from a contest at SCVi Charter School in Santa Clarita. Students at SCVi submitted their version of the book’s cover. Ismail was selected as the winner and allowed to illustrate the entire book.
“It’s crazy having that feeling of moving forward … it was just really exciting,” Ismail remarked when asked about how it felt illustrating for “A Bug Needs Need Love.”
Ismail has also been working with her brother to create art for the skateboarding company Thrash-N-Raid. She has designed the artwork featured on some of their skateboard decks and has been working on concept art for merchandise such as stickers and pins.
Looking towards her future, Ismail believes she will start taking college level art classes to continue to hone her craft. Ismail said she hopes to attend Cal Arts here in Santa Clarita and eventually pursue a career as an animator at Disney Animation Studios.