It took a bit of freedom for Paul Otteni, a Kirkland resident and graduate of Lake Washington High School, to find his stroke — literally.

Otteni was named a winner at the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future contest at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles in April, an achievement that came as somewhat of a surprise.

He admits to doodling since he was a kid, and never getting better than a ‘C’ in any of the art classes he took in school. Learning to recreate a cube on paper, exactly as in an example, just wasn’t for him.

“I was bad at following instructions, I guess,” Otteni said. “What I do now is entirely for fun. There’s never any pressure to draw a certain kind of thing. The pressure is taken off, and my work is entirely self-motivated.”

His artwork has jumped from paper and pen, taking form mostly in photoshop. He creates a digital environment, leaning on his experience in film school where he studied production design.

“It got me interested in drawing for the use of concept design in movies and video games,” Otteni said. “After [school] I began in photoshop, painting environmental landscapes. The first one was terrible; the second one was better. I’m to the point where I’m pretty good at these now.”

The winning piece features a figure standing atop green hillside and cliff, shrouded in mist. Two hands reach up out of the mist and grasp at a shining orb in the sky.

Another piece in his growing portfolio has a massive space station orbiting a red planet, with stars sprinkled in the background.

The end goal is a little fuzzy, Otteni said, but after being selected for the Illustrators of the Future award, he’s now considering a career in environmental concept design. He currently works testing video games and consoles, and already “got my foot in that industry.”

Otteni said the ceremony in Los Angeles was the most impressive event he’d ever been a part of, and definitely the largest group of people he’d ever spoken in front of before.

“I entered through a submission process online that my brother had told me about,” Otteni said. “It was completely free, so I figured I might as well. Many months went by, and I thought the contest had ended and I didn’t think it had at all impressed anyone.”

Then he received a call, notifying him of the good news.

Now, he has a handful of projects he’d love to explore, ideas for comics or illustrated novels. He loves the idea of telling stories visually, he said, and hopes to continue using art in combination with film, games and comics to tell stories.

He also hopes to keep things in perspective.

“If there’s anyone in a similar position and they like to draw or paint and don’t feel like they’re good enough to make anything of that, keep doing it if it’s fun,” he said. “That was my motivation. I never tried to achieve anything great with art. I just have fun. You’ll get better at it, and eventually work will improve if you work on it. People will see that and respect it.”