What can a quadriplegic do, who is permanently unable to use his arms and legs, except for remaining confined to a bed or a wheelchair? Much if he puts his mind to it. Henry Salas, a quadriplegic, who is paralyzed from the neck down, is a shining example of it. Despite being compelled to rely on nurses for everyday daily simple tasks, he managed to train himself to be a mouth artist and illustrator!
Henry Salas, the mouth artist, has been digitally painting hyper-realistic portraits, using his mouth to hold the stylus. His stunning works are being lapped up by discerning art buffs on the internet. How this 28-year-old got started, he tells in an interview on burgundyzine.com, “I’ve a lot of time, and in 2013 or 2014 my good friends Mike and Brian got me a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. With the stylus in my mouth, I was able to navigate my phone, and thus discovered a way to paint. I haven’t stopped since then.”
Salas, from his childhood days, was always fascinated by art, and realism impressed him the most. According to him, he was just an average artist when he could use both his hands! However, after he became quadriplegic, he perfected his skill using his mouth. Had it not been for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, his passion for art would have gone unrealized. He works with a standard drawing tablet and the one he is currently using is Huion hs610. For him, this opened the doors to the art world.
Henry Salas art consists of portraiture, realism, hyperrealism, and anything that can convey expression and emotion. He loves the challenge of perfection and devotes considerable time to his works. Due to his condition, his favorite medium is digital and the software he uses is Photoshop Sketchbook Pro or Artrage. For the non-painting arts, he uses Illustrator and Lightroom. Using such software enables him to work properly even with the limited movement of his neck. He longs to work with oil, but sometimes uses charcoal pencils. He has also created his own special brush set, after understanding the brush engine in Photoshop.
Salas is inspired by the works of classical traditional realism artists, such as Andrew Tischler, Caravaggio, Carl Bloch, Cesar Santos, Rembrandt, Velasquez, to name a few. He also gets inspired by other people’s work. At present, he has three painting commissions to deliver.
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Henry Salas
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