April 18 (UPI) — A teen artist in Cyprus set a Guinness World Record when he created a drawing measuring a total 3,486 square feet, 61 square inches.

Guinness said Alex Dzaghigian, 17, set the record for the largest drawing by an individual when he created the gargantuan image of a turtle surrounded by plastic waste.

“The drawing depicted a turtle eating a plastic bag, an occurrence which happens often since they are confused with jellyfish,” Dzaghigian said.

“It takes hundreds years for plastic to biodegrade depending on the type of plastic; very often marine life becomes entrapped in nets and plastic bags. Quite often, marine life ingest these plastics and end up as food for human consumption,” he said.

“It is important to conserve and protect the environment as the rate of its destruction is tragic and the consequences will affect not just sea-life, but human beings and the entire eco-system,” Dzaghigian said.

Dzaghigian created the drawing at The English School Nicosia, where he is a student.

The teenager, whose record attempt raised funds for the Cyprus Marine Protection Association and Greenpeace, said he used a grid system to map out the drawing and make sure he wasn’t leaving too much blank space, which would have disqualified him from the record.