2010 has just begun, and Dylan Roscover is already having a great year. Currently a student in Full Sail’s Digital Arts & Design Bachelor’s Degree Program, Dylan was recently commissioned by TIME magazine to create a graphic to accompany a cover story on President Obama for the magazine’s February 1 issue. [See the full-sized graphic in Full Sail's Student Gallery.] This is obviously a huge honor for the 19-year-old artist, and Full Sail’s staff has been thrilled by his success.

“One of the great things about being in a creative environment like ours is that we get to live vicariously through our students,” says Eric Rosenfeld, Program Director for the Digital Arts & Design program. “We’re all really happy for him. He’s a diligent worker, and has been a great student to watch grow.”

Dylan was initially contacted by TIME’s Design Director D.W. Pine this January. Pine had seen a previous piece of Dylan’s online – a typeface-based illustration of Apple founder Steve Jobs, which had been generating some buzz in the design community. Dylan created the graphic in Full Sail’s Typography and Page Layout class, and posted it on his website, where it has since gotten over 250,000 views, and was also highlighted on Business Week’s website and several Mac-centric blogs.

“We had all our students doing a similar project, and he took the assignment and turned it into the Steve Jobs piece, and just did it to the highest level possible,” Rosenfeld says. “Then he put it out there for people to see, and having that initiative to share his work with others is what seems to have led to his current success.”

Impressed by Dylan’s creative use of text and image, Pine wanted a similar piece for TIME’s Obama story, and asked him to design an illustration of the President made up of words and phrases that have defined his presidency since taking office. Dylan only had three days to complete the final image, but he was able to balance it with his schoolwork, and turn the assignment around on the tight schedule.

“The amazing thing about Dylan is that he’s extremely talented, but he also works endlessly – he just never stops working,” Rosenfeld says. “So he was able to take the skills we taught him and combine them with his unique perspective and talent and do something amazing with them. It’s not always easy to do freelance on top of school, but we always tell students the more you do it and the harder you work, the easier it becomes every time.”

The published image was featured on the magazine’s table of contents page, and the saying “a picture tells a thousand words” would not be an exaggeration, resulting in a compelling statement on Obama’s first year in office. Although Dylan still has a few more months until his graduation this July, his recent work for TIME makes one anxious to see what he’ll be capable of as he continues to develop his skills as an artist.

“Dylan just blew that project away, it looked amazing,” Rosenfeld says. “As a student he’s somebody who has a great amount of talent, and the work ethic to really do something with that talent – and he’s just taken it across the board with everything he does. We can’t wait to see how his career will continue to grow after graduation.”