When Edgar Alvarado, 21, steps into his life painting class, his intentions are far from painting everyday life.

“I like to paint stuff people do not know about. I try to paint it and draw it so people can see,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado is enrolled in Robert Kobashi’s life painting class, which teaches students style and techniques that are employed in drawing the intricacies of the human body.

“This class focuses on the human body and anatomy and how to pass it onto the canvas,” Alvarado said.

With his father also being an artist, Alvarado has been influenced by art since he was a young kid.

“I’ve been drawing people since I was little, but I was a kid and it was dumb stuff,” Alvarado said.

Though Alvarado’s father practices more of Artesania, the art of traditional Mexican sculpting, he stands as his most important role model.

It was not until he was chosen to paint two murals, one for the city of Compton and another for the city of L.A., that he decided to take his artwork seriously.

“I was fourteen when I started to put emotion and feeling in my art,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado credits his high school teachers, who urged him to become more serious about his talent and who were able to set him up with jobs like painting the murals

“I didn’t talk much; I was shy, but not anymore,” Alvarado said.

Most of Alvarado’s inspiration comes from his hometown of Amatitan, Helisco in Mexico where he lived until he was 12.

Helisco brings him different memories and the city has a special place in his heart.

“I miss it all the time. I was there half of my life. I go back every break I get. Every vacation I spend there,” Alvarado said.

A dark mixture of paint comprises the background layer of the painting, while a man butchering a pig with a knife makes up the forefront of the canvas.

“My new piece is a guy opening up a pig. The background is the landscape and the people,” Alvarado said.

The subject matters of Alvarado’s artworks are cultural, such as scenes that people from a small Mexican town would be familiar with.

“The people cut the animals there to eat them. That is just something you don’t see in the States,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado said the most difficulty he has is remembering scenes in the town to paint.

“Every time I go down there, I try to take a camera to take pictures of things I want to paint. I have to remember what I see there,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado said he would like to continue painting in his life, but not as a career.

“I would love to do it as a job, but it’s better to keep it as a hobby because it will become my job, and it will be less fun,” Alvarado said.

The goal for Alvarado now is just to find and good paying job.

Just now, Alvarado is beginning to value his artwork by keeping them in good condition in order to last longer.

“A lot of my paintings were either stolen from my house or my parents take them to give to their friends because they like them,” Alvarado said.

Right now, Alvarado is concentrating and pouring time over paintings of his own hometown of Jalisco, Mexico.

“The plan is to save as much money as I can and buy myself land there,” Alvarado said.