Reuben Odnoralov is a senior in AP Studio Art who, last year, created the beautiful artwork that is found on your RHS planner today.

Last year, Reuben and Devin Blowers were approached by Mrs. Hayes during class when she said, “the school is looking for a custom cover and asked the art department if we were interested in doing something.” They both jumped on the opportunity but were forced to compete with another student.

“We are definitely proud of it and the fact that it turned out the way we wanted it to, and in some aspects, a lot better than expected, so we’re happy with it and this accomplishment,” said Reuben.

It took nearly a week and a half to finish the ink and watercolor painting yet the time was worth the award. When their artwork was chosen for the next year’s planner cover, they brought it to the office to be processed over the summer.

Though they were excited to have the honor of having their artwork used for the RHS planner, Reuben added, “When I received it, I couldn’t find our names. They cropped out our signatures at the bottom and I tried to find it within the planner, but no credit was given.” Despite the original agreement, they had received no acknowledgement. This made the two angry not only because they were denied the praise they deserved, but because the school chose to neglect their agreement as well.

Reuben explained that there were assumptions that he and Devin created the planner’s art, “but most of the time people just saw artwork and didn’t really give thought on who it was.” He had some friends ask him if he was the artist, and “if anyone would ask, [he] would say yes.”

Many people were really appealed to the art but they were disappointed that the whole cover had a lot of empty space, and the drawing itself was overly cropped.

Even though the ending result of all their hard work, Reuben concluded that, if he got asked to make another cover for next year, he would agree to do so, but make himself clearer on the terms because they didn’t fulfill them last year.  

Due to the school’s lack of acknowledgement, and now credibility, many people are still unaware that Reuben and Devin are the true artists of our planner’s cover.