Dareli Perfects Her Digital Art with Tynker!

Featured Maker Dareli paints us a beautiful picture of why she likes to code! The 13-year-old coder lives in Wisconsin and just finished 7th grade, where her favorite subject was social studies. In her free time, Dareli likes to cook, help her dad in the garden, and paint pictures – especially of animals!

When she grows up, Dareli would like to put her art skills to use as an illustrator for children’s books. We sat down with Dareli to find out more about her experience coding and creating art!

How did you get introduced to coding and how long have you been coding? At first, I was experimenting and trying to figure out what different things did, like what you could do on the site – then I figured out how to make cartoons! I’ve been coding a little over a year.

How do you get inspiration for your projects? I experiment with different art styles – like sometimes I’ll draw something cartoon-y!

“My Project 11″

Why do you like to code? It’s fun! I like Tynker because it’s only got a few stuff and you have to learn how to work with it. So far I think I’m doing a pretty good job at that!

What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? I’d say the one that I like the most is the one with the clouds in the night time because of how realistic it looks and all the details in the different colors!

What are you planning to make next? My next project is learning how to draw people because I’m not exactly good at it. I’m pretty bad at anatomy – the hands always look so weird! They’re so crazy and all over the place! But I don’t really plan stuff – I just think of an idea and then draw it out.

What’s your favorite thing you can do in Tynker? I like the fact that I can shrink the size of the lines so it won’t be so thick and scribbly. When you’re doing really thick, when you erase it you can see it and it doesn’t really look right.

How do you think learning coding has prepared you for the future? It helps me practice doing digital art! I’m not quite as good at drawing on the computer as I am on paper.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes! It’s always good to try new things.

What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? They should have fun when they’re coding, and they should do different things to see what thing on Tynker they like to do the most. That’s what I did!

Dareli’s mom, Maira, told us that she’s excited for Dareli to be practicing her art skills. “She’s been drawing since she was really little, so I want her to enhance her abilities with her drawing,” she said, “I’m a very proud mom, and I put some of her work on my Facebook page. A lot of people that see it are amazed by how good she is at it – she’s very talented for her age!”

Maira encourages Dareli’s talents, and she is even thinking about getting Dareli a special tablet to work more on her drawing skills! Maira is looking ahead to her daughter’s college and career preparation to ensure that she’s equipped to succeed. From helping Dareli practice her digital art to encouraging her to build the important skill of patience, coding is proving to be a great resource in her daughter’s education!

Thank you, Maira and Dareli, for taking the time to chat with us about coding. We are looking forward to what you’ll bring to life next, Dareli!