Picture a young girl with inborn talent. Picture a graphite pencil, sharp as her mind. This girl’s path converges with brittle graphite, and she is never to be the same again. This moment that is entwined with a sense of exhilaration, because it was meant to be.

Jordan Martinez may be many things, but no one can deny her unmistakable creativity. Her artistic roots began back when her hands “could first hold a pencil.” Her artistic creativity, she confessed, is due in large part to the influence of her father; in her youth, her dad told her jokes and she returned the favor by drawing cartoons that went along with them. Her style has remained along the animation and cartoon vein; however, she does stray from it in certain instances when she is trying to capture something specific about the subject she is drawing.

As Martinez grew up, her inspiration has come from various sources, yet all of them are rooted in a entertainment. Movies, music, and books all enhance her creative style. Some of her favorite film directors that have influenced her are Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood”), Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”), and Tim Burton (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”). Literary influences in her artwork include Chuck Palahniuk (“Fight Club”) and Stephen King (“The Shining”).

Martinez’s artwork “Dreaming,” “Daydreaming,” and “Jump” all embody the idea of imagination. These drawings are original pieces uninfluenced by other media, at least not to the extent that her other artwork is. Originality is expressed through raw imagination, so it’s understandable that Martinez’s original works are linked with her imagination, dreaming, and conjuration of ideas. The impressiveness of Martinez’s own style is in her ability to articulate the very creative process by a creative means—her own artwork.

Maybe next time you give a graphite pencil to a child, she will surprise you. Maybe you will expect to give a tedious, dull drawing lesson, and maybe that child will blow all your expectations aside. One certainly did.