Justin Cheung's piece came second in Yoobee Colleges Wellington with a Twist competition. Artist / Justin Cheung
Justin Cheung's piece came second in Yoobee Colleges Wellington with a Twist competition. Artist / Justin Cheung
A Taradale High School student's artistic skills have been nationally recognised after coming second in a Yoobee Colleges competition.
But Justin Cheung had almost completely forgotten about the competition altogether.
"I saw the competition when it was announced just over a month ago and sort of put it to theside in my head for a while and then just a few days before entries had to be handed in a friend of mine reminded me of it," Cheung said.
"So I spent a couple of days planning what I was going to do and pretty much the day before I had to hand it in I spent from 6pm that night to 2am painting it and putting it altogether."
Yoobee Colleges is New Zealand's largest specialist creative and IT college.
"The painting itself is sort of a look at an alternate future where the sort of power and influence in the country all centralised into one place and on the back of a mechanical looking hermit crab as it collects influence and power as it travels around the country."
For a long period of time he considered art as a simple hobby but the 18-year-old aims to hone his skills to pursue a dream job as a concept/character artist for film and animation.
He has already had his talents on display having hosted a week long art exhibition in Napier in August last year, where he was able to show off some of his best work to creative industry in the region.
"That was a great experience for me and to see people view my work and what I can do was amazing."