Garrison Edwards looks over his latest piece of art at the table of his family's home earlier this week. Parents like to say they know their children, but even Walter & Gala Edwards were amazed at the sight they saw after a wedding several years ago.

During the service, their son Garrison got a pencil and a piece of paper and went to work. Using precision and skill some feel is reserved for those much older, the youth caught his parents off guard in creating a work of art that his parents believe is "nothing short of a masterpiece."

"We were amazed at how someone so young could pick up on so many things and look at it from a different perspective," Gala Edwards said.

At 13 years old, Garrison does all the normal things a teenager would do by going outside and wrestling for a while with his brothers or spending a few hours playing one of the family's many games on their PlayStation 3 gaming device.

But the fun and games take a back seat when Garrison takes a seat at a table in his northern Cherokee County home. For him, art is serious business.

"I just want to continue getting better at being an artist," Garrison Edwards said. "I want to have my pictures in prestigious places, and the only way to get that far is by continuing to sharpen my skills."

In creating pictures of everyone from his siblings

and President Barack Obama to characters from popular cartoon

series like Batman, Spiderman and Dragonball Z, his parents say he has came a long way from drawing dinosaurs as a toddler.

"Dinosaurs were what he was into for the first couple years of his life," Gala Edwards said. "He knew their names, what they looked like ... everything; so of course that's the first thing he learned to draw. But each year it seemed he became better and started drawing more and more, to the point where he became a good artist."

"It's to the point where he can just draw characters off of a box, or if necessary stop a movie or DVD to make sure his piece is almost perfect," Walter Edwards said.

Garrison believes each member of his family — parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins — have been a driving force in the youngster continuing to perfect his craft. A sharpened pencil being his tool of choice, Garrison prefers his drawings remain light in color, opting to keep his artwork as original and simple as possible.

"Sometimes I worry about coloring, because I'm afraid I will make a mistake that could ruin the entire piece," Garrison Edwards said. "But by keeping things in black and white, there is almost no chance of that happening; and if so, I can just erase it. Plus, shading is something that I like to do in my art anyway."

Just getting recognition from family and friends is one thing but receiving accolades and compliments from those outside his circle is another.

Two years ago, the local teen received honorable mention as part of the state's "Reel" Art Competition, which required students to create drawings, paintings and other items resembling fish and other wildlife found in the Palmetto State. That same year, he participated in an arts and sciences camp held at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

Garrison didn't expect to receive many pats on the back or compliments when he put several of his favorite works on display during a luncheon at Limestone College last week. A few hours later, however, it was easy to tell he was on cloud nine.

"For a while we were debating on whether to go to the event, but made the last-minute decision to do so," Walter Edwards said. "We're glad he did. Garrison received so many compliments from people who attended and kept a smile on his face."

The youth was invited by Divine Literary Tour author and Godparents Youth Organization national outreach coordinator Toschia Moffett Santiago to display some of the art at the Sister II Sister sorority luncheon in Charlotte next month, something his mother said Garrison is looking forward to.

"He's always looking for a way to get better and be challenged," Gala Edwards said. "If this is his goal, then we're going to do our best to help him every step of the way."