3D software and Photoshop know-how are only a few of the skills junior Ivan Kornev has taught himself.

Kornev was accidentally introduced to the art of manipulating pictures over 2 years ago in the process of pranking his friend by combining his picture with that of a Pokemon.

While he said he had only done an “okay job” on the image, his “immediate thought was ‘this is amazing, I want to try something else,'” said Kornev.

Without any formal training, Kornev said most of his knowledge comes from YouTube and trial and error. “I think all you need is a laptop and the software,” he said.

When he’s finished 1 of his pieces, he likes to post it to his Instagram account @jezuziswithyou. Most recently, Kornev has featured work with 3D modeling.

Occasionally he makes digital artwork for other people, like background art for Voreyal, a growing SoundCloud rapper and producer, or the logo for Yevy, a trending YouTube channel.

He gets feedback about his new creations from commenters on his posts and follows other modeling and Photoshop accounts. However, his biggest supporter is still his mother, who is an art fan herself.

Nowadays Kornev can be found experimenting with video effects. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this new hobby was also inspired by teasing his friend by making a video “with his picture, and with some music, as a joke,” he said.

The only thing he doesn’t like about digital art, said Kornev, “is that it is stationary and time consuming. When I say stationary, I mean you cannot do it everywhere. You can only do it in a place where you can charge your device, because the software requires a lot of processing power.”

Nevertheless, “it is also a very rewarding execution of art, that requires a lot of time, a good device, a handful of ideas and a pinch of creativity. Digital Art is like magic. You can add, delete, or transform objects in a ways that no painter or sculptor could do before,” he said.

Kornev sees a future in the art he makes from his laptop. “I want to get into special effects, I want to create beautiful pictures that you see online, I want to learn how to do that myself,” he said.