"the most versatile artist" - Personal Statement for Graphics Design Program

Hello,

This is my first time writing a personal statement and I lack grammar skills.
I want to incorporate this quote "Every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist when you grow up." - Pablo Picasso" somehow but I'm not sure how. Maybe I should take out the prodigy and put this instead?

I would highly appreciate it if someone were to look over my draft and fix some things or give me some ideas or suggestions or concerns or anything. Thank you very much

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A prodigy is "an unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration." I was not a prodigy but I was someone that found a skill and an interest in art at an early age and it has continued to grow. I was exposed to art when I was 4 years old when my parents took me to art museums and started drawing when I was 6. I discovered surrealism at the age of 12 and the style dominated ever since. I am 21 and I feel that my artistic ability has hit a plateau for years now but certain circumstances has led me to believe that I am finally ready for that change of style by combining surrealism with the latest technology to further test my skills and creativity.

I have contemplated about enrolling myself into a graphic design program since high school but never pursued it due to lack of confidence, fear of the stigma of the "starving artist", the competitive industry and other opportunities such as traveling and the Winter Olympics 2010 commemorating in Vancouver thus partaking in the Tourism Management Co-op Diploma program. In 2009, I started to focus more on the tourism industry as a career while I tried to maintain my passion for art on my spare time but I found that even when I was pursuing a different goal in life, art always seemed to manifest somehow; it finds a way to draw my attention back to its entity.

I started to volunteer for various special events, festivals, and companies - ArtStart Gallery as a researcher, Arts for Life as an auction host, The Fringe Festival as a ticket seller, Vancouver Short Film Festival as a ticket coordinator and many other places has revealed to me the different kinds of artistic talent that exists in this world which constantly reminds, motivates and inspires me to pursue my career in the art industry.

Years of volunteering and working kept my fire going but I didn't hit an epiphany aka the moment of clarity until my participation with Katimavik in 2011. Being away from home was hard thus I started a project where I designed a postcard every week and sent it home - it was a way to force myself to draw every week. Working with EcoSociety in Nelson BC has taught me more than I expected; they gave me trust and freedom to maintain their website thus giving me the opportunity to re-learn the basic HTML functions (I used to make websites in grade 8 and 9), create banners, buttons, maps and posters for special events through Photoshop and Illustrator. My overall realization was that I needed to travel constantly, experience as much as I can, incorporate art, expose my art, bring ideas to fruition, see and meet the types of artists and monuments around the world while I'm young.

The reason why I chose to apply to Vancouver Community College is because of the length of the program, reasonable cost of tuition and the efficient syllabus I can gain from the program. I want to understand color theory, the industry, design theory and hone my design techniques and excel in identifying solutions. I believe the program will give me the confidence that I lacked years ago to be an effective graphic designer while I'm travelling and exploring the world.

My goal is to be one of the most versatile artist; dancer, graphic designer, martial artist, musician, and a traveler. I will take steps one at a time starting with becoming a proficient graphic designer.

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I think you so far have a great essay needs a little tweaking here and there but i wont try to do that since grammerical error is not my strong point. But you do not have to take out the prodigy part unless you want to. I did my best and I hope this helps you out or give you some ideas.

A prodigy is "an unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration." I was not a prodigy but I was someone that found a skill and an interest in art at an early age and it has continued to grow. My favorite quote from the artist Pablo Picasso is "Every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist when you grow up." I can personally testify to that quote, as a child growing up I was exposed to art at an early age. when I was 4 years old my parents took me to art museums and I found an interest in when I was 6 years old. I discovered surrealism at the age of 12 and the style dominated my life ever since. I am currently 21 years old and I feel that my artistic ability has hit a plateau for years now but certain circumstances has led me to believe that I am finally ready for that change of style by combining surrealism with the latest technology to further test my skills and creativity.

I also think you might want to change syllabus in the 4th pargraph, first sentence to knowledge/
"...I chose to apply to Vancouver Community College is because of the length of the program, reasonable cost of tuition and the efficient syllabus ..."

to me syllabus doesn't fit with the other words that follow after it.

I hoped i could be of help and would really appeciate it if you reveiwed my essay as well, I'm open to any feedback.

This is the idea you gave me: Put the Picasso quote at the beginning of the essay, and then write about him being a prodigy:

Pablo Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist when you grow up." A prodigy is "an unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration." I was not a prodigy like Picasso, but I was someone that found a skill and an did find an interest in art at an early age, and it has continued to grow. I was exposed to...

That might work better, because "less is more" in writing. Use the fewest words possible. :-)

I'll make a few corrections here: Now I am twenty-one, and I feel my artistic ability has hit a plateau, for years now but certain circumstances has have led me to believe that...

...but I found that even when I was pursuing a different goal in life, art always seemed to manifest somehow; it finds a way to draw my attention back to its entity.----This is great!! I like this sentence, except I don't think entity is the best word to use at the end. How about mystery instead?

My goal is to be the most versatile kind of artist -- dancer, graphic designer, martial artist, musician, and a traveler. I will take steps one-at-a-time, starting with becoming a proficient graphic designer.

:-)