A 13-year-old homeschooled artist is seeing his creativity reach a much larger audience after winning First Electric Cooperative’s inaugural apparel-design contest.
Rowan Alberson earned 1st place in the competition, beating more than 20 contestants, including many who were several years older.
“I was surprised, honestly,” Rowan said. “I was mainly just surprised and honored.”
For Rowan, drawing has become much more than a hobby.
He enjoys creating characters, designing outfits and developing the stories behind them. When his mother suggested entering the First Electric contest, Rowan decided to combine his own artistic interests with what he knew about the cooperative.
“I wanted to incorporate what I knew about First Electric and fuse it with what I like to draw,” Rowan said.
Contest organizers said that creativity helped his entry stand out.
Austin Martin of First Electric, who organized the competition, said judges could see the amount of effort Rowan put into the project.
“We could tell he poured himself into the design,” Martin said. “It wasn’t just artwork. It told a story.”
Rowan spent days developing and refining the entry.
What began as a character sketch eventually became a completed design featuring a larger heart element and visual details inspired by First Electric’s service and community presence.
“I just kept making it better and better,” Rowan said. “That’s basically all I drew during that time.”
Rowan is entirely self-taught.
He said he learned by watching videos, studying the work of other artists and practicing repeatedly instead of taking formal art classes.
“I didn’t really go to art classes,” Rowan said. “I just watched a lot of videos and practiced a lot.”
His interest in art became even stronger several years ago after watching a video in which an animator discussed her own artistic journey.
Rowan said the story inspired him to work harder and learn as much as possible.
Today, he continues experimenting with different artistic mediums.
He has recently worked with charcoal while continuing to draw with pencil, pen and alcohol markers.
Outside of art, Rowan enjoys reading, gaming, dancing and spending time with his family.
He also enjoys Mario Kart and jokes that he usually wins when competing against family members.
Even with those interests, art remains a major part of Rowan’s life.
Winning the First Electric contest has encouraged him to search for more opportunities and continue developing his abilities.
“It gives me hope, honestly,” Rowan said. “It inspires me to try harder and branch out and look for more opportunities.”
One of his long-term goals is to create a graphic novel.
“I’d love to make a graphic novel someday,” Rowan said. “It would be a lot of work, but it would be really exciting.”
First Electric Cooperative said the contest was about more than producing a new T-shirt design.
The competition was created to encourage creativity, give young people an opportunity to showcase their work and celebrate talent throughout the cooperative’s communities.
Rowan’s winning artwork will soon appear on apparel worn by First Electric employees and community members throughout the cooperative’s service area.
For the young artist, seeing someone wearing his creation could be one of the most memorable parts of the experience.
“If I walked by someone wearing that shirt,” Rowan joked, “I’d probably say, ‘Hey, you like that shirt? I drew it.’”
For Rowan, the 1st-place finish is proof that practice, imagination and persistence can turn a simple idea into something thousands of people may eventually see.
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