Teen author, artist wants nothing more than a family to help him achieve his dreams

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A world of colors and characters comes easy for James, 16. His head is in the clouds, in the best kind of way, dreaming up another world he hopes to share with the masses one day.

“I’m trying to write a kind of universe where multiple books can stem off one universe,” said James as he showed us some of his custom illustrations on his iPad. “It revolves around this one planet where basically there’s this whole host of cultures, different technologies, stuff like that.”

He explained some of the drawings he creates for his own projects, and others he makes for his friends.

“I mainly wanted something at some point that I could say, ‘oh yeah i created this,’” James told us while we walked by similar illustrations on the downtown Tyler Art Alley. “I want to make the characters relatable so people can be like ‘oh I kind of feel that character right there.’”

Creating something visually and emotionally appealing has been a passion for James since he was a kid.

“I’ve been thinking of it for about four or five years now, ever since I was 11 I started writing it,” he said. But over the years, keeping that story together and consistent has become harder without a stable living environment.

“I just want a family that I can be like ‘oh yeah this is my family’ to people I meet,” said James. “I want one that will actually accept who I am and actually be caring.”

Even at the age when most teens want out of the house, James wants in.

“I don’t want to be that kind of person in adulthood who doesn’t have any kind of support, other than like a few friends that won’t actually fully support in everything,” James said thinking about the future compared to where he came from. “I just want someone that I can actually be happy to call family because my old family I’m not happy to call them that.”

James tells us he’s hopeful the right parents are out there for him. Until then, he’s going to keep working on bettering his natural talents.

“I’m a perfectionist so anytime I mess up a tiny bit I’m like, ‘ugh I’m going to restart,” he shared with a lighthearted laugh.

Just like his personal goals, his work to find a forever family is unceasing.

“Until it’s done, yeah, and I don’t know if it’ll be ever done.”

For more information about James, please email hello@heartgalleryetx.org.

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