What would you do if you walked into your first class on the first day of college, and almost every person in the room already knew your name? That was the reality for Camila Salinas, a sophomore studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Originally from Texas, Salinas rose to fame after she started posting videos of her art on TikTok in her junior year of high school. Over the past four years, she has amassed over two million followers across all her social media platforms, with one million followers on TikTok.
Salinas’s interest in social media started from a young age. Growing up, she watched YouTube creators and filmed her own short videos with her iPad. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Salinas took the opportunity to focus more on her art.
Though Salinas said she couldn’t pinpoint a specific reason that led her to start posting on TikTok, that didn’t stop her videos from quickly becoming viral.
Once she saw how many views her videos were getting, she thought, “‘oh my God, this is crazy.’”
Despite her quick success, Salinas was hesitant to share the growing attention she was receiving online with her family and friends. “I was very embarrassed,” she said. But the support she received on social media made her think that art was something she could pursue “in a very serious way.” When her family and friends found out about her TikTok account, she said she was met with “a lot of love” and “a lot of support.”
Since her childhood, Salinas has been fascinated with realism, an art style focused on drawing items as realistically as possible. “I remember watching SpongeBob as a kid and I would take a piece of paper and trace him on the screen,” she said about her efforts to depict him with as much realistic detail as she could.
She would draw and paint portraits of pets and people before eventually switching to self-portraits. Initially, Salinas found it difficult because she wasn’t “very secure with my self image.” But she said her repeated creation of self-portraits has “helped me see myself better in a better light.”
Salinas believes that her hyper-realistic art style is why she gained popularity online.
Her work had an “impressive factor to it,” she said. “A lot of people were like, ‘oh my gosh, this girl is in high school and she’s painting like this.’”
More recently, she’s experimented with caricatures and surrealism, a style that portrays distortions of reality. Salinas draws inspiration from “nostalgic things, stuff with memory (and) personal experiences.”
Dennis Congdon, a RISD painting professor who taught Salinas last semester, shared how Salinas’s collaborative approach to her work often involved talking over mistakes with her colleagues.
Congdon added that one of the paintings Salinas created last semester was “one of my favorites.”
Coming to RISD has been a learning experience for Salinas. She shared that she “didn’t know anything about the art world” and was completely self-taught prior to college. During Salinas’s first year, she took the time to experiment and try different techniques. Now, as a sophomore, she is trying to “hone in more on my own personal art style, what kind of art I want to make and the messages that I want to put out in the world.”
But even as her artwork has evolved, Salinas said her followers continue to support her and have “really stuck with me throughout all these years.”
In many of her YouTube vlogs, Salinas has also been candid about details regarding her personal life, including the mental health struggles she has faced at RISD. “I definitely struggled a lot, especially my first year,” she said. “I think it was mostly just because it’s a big change for me.”
Being far from friends, family and familiarity took a toll on Salinas. She struggled with self-doubt and found it challenging trying new techniques she was “unsure” about, leading her to feel as though she may be unable to succeed at RISD.
Despite still sometimes feeling unsure about her place at college, she’s learned to overcome some of her self-doubt through the RISD community. “Everybody does art, everybody loves art,” she said. “Just being surrounded by artists is so incredible.”
If you scroll through the comments on Salinas’s vlogs, you’ll find people sharing their own struggles with art school and welcoming her honest dialogue. “I think talking about it just brings a nice awareness, and it makes a few people feel a little less alone,” she said.
But Salinas said that her journey on social media has not come without negativity. During her junior year of high school, Salinas posted her portfolio from an Advanced Placement art class, which garnered over 13 million views. Despite many positive comments, her portfolio was also met with criticism. “I was like, ‘oh my God. People hate me,’” she said.
For several days after posting the video, she felt as though her career on social media was over. But, over time, Salinas learned to look past the negativity.
Social media has also opened doors for Salinas. Recognized for her online presence and artistic talent, one of her paintings was featured in a gallery at the Rhimes Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles for Women’s History Month. Salinas has also traveled to London to contribute to a documentary shot by Minecraft.
Those who have known Salinas for years are in awe of her success. Natalie Giorgetti, Salinas’s childhood friend, said she has “loved watching (Camila) find her different styles.”
Over time, Giorgetti has watched Camila gain confidence in her work. It’s “the coolest thing ever that there’s people across the world that support her, watch her and recognize her,” Giorgetti said about Salinas’ TikTok followers.
Giorgetti also said she admires Salinas’s bravery in being so honest about her life online. “That’s a hard thing to do, to show your creativity,” she said. “It’s like someone’s looking into your brain, and she does it with such fearlessness.”
Editor's Note: Media of Camila Salinas's artwork were attached to this article after its initial publication.
