BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — 2020 has been a rough year for a lot of people, but we want to remind you there’s a lot of good happening in the world too.

One example is right here in Northwest Arkansas.

Cohen Cottrell is 11-years-old and is one of the country’s youngest published illustrators.

Cottrell describes his art as pieces of himself that help him express his feelings.

That creativity landed him a job as the illustrator for the book “Big Idea Bo.”

After sorting through many concepts, he found one that both he, and the author Megan Dryzga liked.

“So the book is about a boy who had a huge imagination and when he gets an iPad it kind of shrinks or goes away,” he said.

Cottrell said this opportunity came through a connection from his parents.

“When I first found out I was just blown away that this stuff is even happening and I was really surprised on how I’ve even been able to do that at my age,” he said.

Megan Dryzga, the author of the book, said “When I saw his illustrations on Instagram, I was like this is absolutely perfect. What a perfect depiction of imagination when it’s quite literally Cohen’s imagination that is creating these images.”

As for what lies ahead for the young artist, he’s working on shoe designs right now but said when he’s an adult the sky is the limit.

One day he hopes to see his designs on murals across the city.

You’ll have to keep an eye out for that.