A Coalville artist is making a name for himself locally - and he is only 12 years old.

Che Soobiah sells his paintings for as much as £70 - and, for the moment, that is enough to earn himself some pocket money at the same time.

But his ambition is to make the grade as a professional artist - and he has already staged his first exhibition.

Che, who attends Newbridge School, displayed his work at the Coalville CAN building - and his paintings are still available to buy at the Memorial Square office.

Che has been working with Tommy Goddard from Coalville CAN

Last week, he set up a stand at his former school, Belvoirdale Primary, in Scotlands Road, and came close to selling out all of the artwork on show.

While he is largely self-taught, Che has been looking up famous artists on TikTok and finding he is already becoming influenced by them.

Che has been drawing since an early age and looks to be a natural artist - even if he did create some extra work at home when he was younger.

Mum Jade said: "He was three years old when he started scribbling on my walls!

"At the time, he came downstairs with red felt tip all over his face and said: 'Spiderman face'.

"But then he said: 'Spideroom'. And he'd done the room as well!

"I had to redecorate and clean everything.

"But he's always loved drawing from an early age."

Che is making the most of his talent and is showing signs of making modern art.

He said: "I think what I do is called abstract painting.

"Some of them are small and I exhibit them on little easels, but I also like painting moons and stars as well as doing some graffiti-type work."

Che virtually sold out his paintings at Belvoirdale Primary School last week

Che says his art comes naturally but he has been given a helping hand by Tommy Goddard at Coalville CAN - the community group which is now encouraging local artists to exhibit their work.

He added: "I had a chance to do some work at Coalville CAN with Tommy.

"I can do a lot of my work there, but I've been drawing since I was three. I just want to carry on doing this now.

"It's been great to get the support of CAN and Tommy."

Tommy added: "Che's Coalville CAN exhibition has gone now, but he's selected a few which have gone into our Maker Space and people can buy those."

Che's grandmother Lyn said: "Che's been looking up works by the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock and David Hockney.

"Without realising it, he's being influenced by those artists."

Che is also being exhibited at two other venues in Coalville.

Lyn explained: "His work has been on show at the Marlene Reid Centre and the George Smith Hub - they've asked if they can sell them in their shop as well.

"He's also got some paintings on show in the Oh You Beauty exhibition which is on this month at Coalville CAN.

"Che's getting himself about all over the place."

Jade added: "As he's coming to this age now, he's realising what he like and what he can do.

"With the help of Tommy, who he's been working with since January, he's been learning more techniques.

Coalville councillor Craig Smith was at Belvoirdale School to suppport Che

"He seems to be improving every week. As he grows, his art and his technique will change."

Coalville councillor Craig Smith was also at Belvoirdale to support Che.

He said: "I was invited to come and see Che's work - I'm a bit of a closet Sci-fi geek, so I thought I'd pop down and have a look.

"I watched him do one of his paintings and it literally took him two minutes, I just went 'wow'.

"He's creating fantastic work."