Have you ever itched to leave home and see the world? Fifth-year studio art senior Marc Sanchez can relate. During his time at the UA, Sanchez’s interests evolved from illustration into a deep passion for art and culture that renewed his sense of wanderlust.

“My freshman year I went into architecture [and] I liked it, but I just realized it wasn’t for me because it was too boring,” Sanchez said. “I needed something with more life —it kept me from being social and I love being social, I would rather meet people and explore.”

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Sanchez remained in architecture until the end of his freshman year, then changed his major to illustration and design with a minor in Spanish and Portuguese. Sanchez stayed in Tucson for an extra year to fulfill all of his credits to complete his new major. Sanchez said he still remembers the first moment of joy art brought him.

Sanchez recalled dreading going to church when he was young, but became fascinated by a man doodling on his hand behind him one day, leading him to realize how much he enjoyed drawing. He grew an interest in graffiti, and once his teacher realized how good he was, he encouraged Sanchez to progress it into fine art.

“I was very ADHD—I couldn’t sit still, so I looked behind me and this gentleman was drawing on his hand, I was instantly interested,” Sanchez said. “He looked at me and saw I was looking, so he started drawing some more. Then he put up his hand and I saw this little drawing of a dog and I thought that was so cool. I started drawing after that because I was so interested and the gentleman showed me that you could create something just like that.”

The more Sanchez explored the concept, the more specialized his artwork became.

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“I started learning more and more and reading and figuring out more about it,” Sanchez said. “I love the whole aspect of storytelling and exploring the identities of people and showcasing that, because you can create so many stories from the smallest things and just build upon it from there.”

As his personal style developed, Sanchez worked on a variety of projects, but his favorite remains his “American Portrait Project,” which deals with the identity of people and their culture.

“Over the summer, my professor asked me to create a portrait and I just thought that portraits were so boring so I tried to figure out a way to use my art style, as in creating characters and designing it all together,” Sanchez said. “I asked 10 different people that come from different places and have completely different backgrounds, ‘What does it mean to be an American?’ I would listen to their stories and compile the pictures and images they sent me to help me develop their portrait.”

Sanchez said he received images of food, things they do, people they are surrounded by and things that pertain to them.

He then would create a portrait with all the different characters that were significant to them and their unique culture and background.

Sanchez’s outgoing nature helped him find new ways to incorporate his passion for culture into his artwork.

“I love meeting new people, seeing different cultures and exploring the world,” Sanchez said. “I love learning about new cultures and people. Every time I meet someone new or from somewhere else, I learn something unique pertaining to their culture and I love bringing that into my art and my animation because most people don’t talk about that stuff and I think it’s really cool to showcase the uniqueness of people, especially here in the U.S. because we are such a melting pot.”

In changing his focus, Sanchez successfully wove two of passions together to create a major unique to his interests.

After graduation, he plans to teach English in Spain through the Fulbright Program. After that, Sanchez hopes to either get involved with animation and film, or apply to graduate school.

Among his plans for the future, Sanchez said he hopes to inspire others along the way.

“Hopefully if I ever work for Pixar, I want to make an animation or little short out of my story.”

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