Khalid Muhammad and Charann Woolridge could be down on life.

The engaged couple had to put off university last year because they couldn’t foot the bill.

Despite the disappointment, they’re not sitting around moping.

They’re working to raise the $55,000 that will get them into Savannah College of Art and Design, and brightening up their community in the process.

What got them noticed is a series of large-scale images at St George’s Preparatory School.

Fictional characters from Where the Wild Things Are, reimagined by Mr Muhammad, can now be found in the library garden, alongside paintings of The Red Queen and Paddington Bear.

The pair charged “way, way under market price” for the work, a staff member said.

“I love how you can make a difference,” said Mr Muhammad, 23.

“I love the thought of having an influence and making a difference to someone. In an art class, you’re not only making a difference educationally, but you’re making a difference in how they see themselves, in their work ethic, in their style of art, in showing them who they are. If I see that someone loves art in primary school, I want to see them grow up in this.”

The artist works part-time at Lisa Rego’s art gallery in Dockyard; his fiancée, who is also a qualified chef, works at Conscious Vibes café in St George’s.

The pair met at church four years ago and were engaged in January this year.

Ms Woolridge was focused on a career in the culinary arts until Mr Muhammad encouraged her to paint more.

“We watched each other grow as we found ourselves as artists,” he said.

Not going to university when they’d planned was “tough”, the artist added. They’d received scholarships, but they weren’t enough to cover the hefty tuition.

“I had written out a plan, a life plan that was very structured in moving forward,” he told Lifestyle.

“Especially because I want to get married and move for school.

“On it I had: do murals; progress further in art; and find myself as an artist. I loved the idea of painting something big. I’ve always wanted something large that interacts with the space.”

Mr Muhammad said he’d always been interested in art but it wasn’t until he received encouragement from his high school art teacher and fellow muralist, Manuel Palacio, that he saw his potential.

“My art professors were great teachers in showing me who I am through my art and helping me find my own signature style,” he said.

He appreciated being given the opportunity to paint for the children at St George’s Prep, although he prefers to work in charcoal.

Love Yourself, a portrait of his fiancee, was entered in last year’s Charman Prize and sold.

The description that accompanied the piece was “almost a poem”, he said.

“A love that speaks beyond appearance; that speaks beyond words — it’s what I saw in her as beauty and not her physical appearance. [But], even if the piece is not about her, she has played a very big part in who I’m becoming as a man. It’s been an experience finding out who I am with her in the mix.”

Another piece, The Wrath of Love, “explores what you do when all you feel is wrath towards the person you love”, he said.

It served as a reminder of how to deal with anger.

“Each of my pieces speak a different story, an emotional journey or self-reflection,” he said. “I never do a piece just to please people. I hope to give someone an answer to what they’re looking for.”

His ultimate goal is to become an art teacher.

“It’s the beauty of watching something grow. Planting that in someone to see it grow.

“Even those that don’t feel that they have talent or are not as good as the person that draws beside them, I just want to instil purpose in each person that I come in contact with and I believe that in years of teaching to come, I’m going to be able to touch hundreds of lives in finding out who they are in their art.”