INSPADES MAGAZINE UNO | Page 155

By Jaclyn Truss “Hello, this is your Captain speaking, there will be a short delay in takeoff as the are orcas breaching on the runway again. We thank you for patience and apologize for any inconvenience.” And so goes the undomesticated imagination of Jerick Van Ortiz. “I can't really call myself a real artist or designer because it really just doesn't suit me.” Perhaps not, but at 17, this self-taught “digital artist” from the Philippines is already showing compelling creative prowess beyond his years, regardless of what label he bestows upon it. Van Ortiz transfers his wild imaginings to the screen with tacit skill, creating everything from counterfeit worlds turned on end, to baffling whale migrational patterns to an magical ocean of galaxies. In elementary school, Van Ortiz had a natural proclivity for drawing, but eventually found himself drawn to filmmaking, a passion that carried through to high school. He then began dabbling in digital artworks, discovering the mobile apps he uses today: Union, Brainfever, Unsplash, Mextures Collective, Pixite Source, PngImg, and Pixabay. 155 inspadesmag.com