By Tansy Cai

Just by learning digital painting through online tutorials, Jewel Pei, a 2013 graduate from Collingwood, performs exceptionally well in the field of art. The amazing artist focuses on the themes of idols, TV shows and dreams as her major inspiration. Therefore, most of her art is a colorful reflection of herself.

Jewel was born and raised in Shanghai, China and came to Canada in grade 9. Currently, she is majoring in Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Although the four-year university program is quite inundating, Jewel enjoys every class that she is participating in. Apart from architecture, the self-taught artist also considers to minor in Communication Design in the near future.  

The most appealing feature in Jewel’s drawings is the effective use of colors. Most of her works are in darker tones to ensure that viewers are not distracted by any garish complexion. Furthermore, she uses Corel Painter and Photoshop quite often to create her designs. A few year ago, when she witnessed the artwork of the famous United States digital painter Craig Mullins, she was strongly motivated and aspires to further experiment with the techniques of drawing on the computer. Only within two years, Jewel Pei can effectively apply and combine her pieces of inspiration into larger digital creations. Although Jewel admires many tremendous artists, she develops a unique and delightful style of her own.

Not only does Jewel engage in visual art, she also embodies a special passion for piano. The evocative tune created by the young artist is definitely phenomenal and she uses the enchanting music as a source of relaxation, which also stimulates her into producing more beautiful designs.

Now, Jewel Pei’s main goal is to learn as much as possible and eventually become a talented and diligent architect. We all wish our alumni the best luck and hope that she can continue to pursue what she absolutely loves and mature as an individual!