About the Artist

Learn about how the person behind the Whos_Turtles persona is represented by a lazy cloud mascot. Look into the background beliefs and journey the artist has taken to get to where they are now.

Self Portrait 1, 2024

8.5x11

Pencil Drawing

Self Portrait 2, 2026

8.5x11

Acrylic on Canvas

Who I Am

My name is Lorena Recinos, but I usually go by Whos_Turtles on online platforms. I'm a queer Guatemalan-Salvadoran-American, born and raised in South Central LA. I'm currently a Fine Arts student at a community college and am looking to go into a four-year University sometime in 2028, since I plan on getting my Visual Communications AA certificate before I transfer. I have a strong passion for art in every form; seeing and experiencing how other people think and express themselves is the most beautiful thing that life can offer. I'm always willing to try new forms of art. I'm very interested in going into pottery, textiles, music, metalwork, and wood carving art; even if it's time-consuming, learning about how things are made makes me appreciate them on a whole new level. I admire my fellow creatives, and listening to them motivates me to keep learning and connect with others. My family and others always see art as a non-lucrative line of work and often is underappreciated but they fail to realize that humanity needs art. It's a way to show culture ideas, beliefs, and history that still affects us today. Which is why I'm going into the Arts: to spread my knowledge, showcase my culture, represent others who have no voice, and be the change in my community. So join me on my journey and explore new ways that art can express itself.

Background

Mama

My mama was born in San Salvador but grew up in Santa Ana, being the 3rd youngest out of seven children, living through the El Salvador Civil War in the 1980s that was funded by the U.S. Both her father and younger brother were in the army. She went to school up until high school because her father could no longer pay for her schooling. She soon immigrated to the US in the 1990s to help support her daughter and family abroad.

Mascot

This pink lazy cloud is the mascot of Whos_Turtles, and it was created way before the online handle was made. It was created in sixth grade in a five-section notebook during my class breaks. Soon after, it was drawn next to sketches criticizing them and questioning their anatomy. They are now the mascot of Whos_Turtles, representing me while still remaining someone anonymous in online spaces.

Papa

My papa was born in Zacapa, Guatemala, a small rural town high in the mountains. He was the 2nd oldest out of four children, and he grew up as a farmer. He stopped going to school when he was in the third grade to help his family in the fields. He grew up during Guatemala's indigenous genocide but didn't experience the brunt of it since his family was located in a hard-to-reach area. He immigrated to the US in the 1990s to support his family and was supposed to stay there for 3 months, but ended up staying for 30+ years.

Behind the Art

Look at the artist behind the artworks and learn about their creative process when coming up with their style and if you feel so inclined feel free to go to the tutorial page to learn something new.

Watch a Tutorial

Reference for Portrait 1, 2024

I took this picture as a reference for my drawing assignment for my drawing class. I wanted to have extremely dramatic lighting coming from the top or bottom of my head. My professor said to use dynamic lighting for this assignment, but I took it to the extreme. I took multiple pictures of my bed, and then when I realized the lighting wasn't dramatic enough, I went to take pictures inside my closet while using my mom's phone as a light source when taking my pictures. But I started to draw my self-portrait it was To emphasize line and break up the shapes with it. It was very fun; we used the grid method to draw as accurately to our reference. That will then be printed out, folded into a grid, and used to help us draw our self-portrait. It extremely challenging activity since I had dramatic lighting I had more smaller and lighter shapes so I had to make my line weight lighter to mimic the light source and shape of “the blobs”. In the end, I was very happy with my outcome, and I wanted to do it again in the future.

Reference for Portrait 2, 2026

I took this picture as a reference for my painting assignment for my painting class. I once again wanted extremely dramatic lighting for my picture and once again took it inside my closet for the lighting effect. The only difference was that I had gone to my New Voices art exhibition at the Vincent Price Art Museum a few hours earlier. It was for the showcasing of my collage of drawings called unisex that had also been shown as the NAPAFASA art exhibit one year prior, and I had gotten dressed up for the occasion, which is why I have makeup on. I quickly took this picture because the assignment was due soon and I had forgotten all about it. But I felt like the picture came out well, and so did the painting. For this assignment we had to choose between painting in monochromatic or complementary colors and I immediately wanted to paint with red and green but have the red be a desaturated light red but when I adding white my red turned pink and I was fine with that since my green was going to be a more yellowy. I believe the two colors work well together and made for a beautiful painting.