One of the main attractions at Comic Con Africa was the Artists Alley where animators, illustrators and comic book artists had a chance to display their work. The Daily Vox team chatted with a few about how they got their start. Check out part two below.
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Part One: Illustrators and Animators on how they got into the field
Lumichen.Art
I am an artist and I’m also training to be a tattoo artist at the moment. It was actually quite a long time ago. I started drawing in grade four and eventually I gave up on it. Afterwards though I tried to push on. I noticed that I’m not academically smart but I’m more orientated towards the arts. Then I decided that’s what I wanted to do and that’s where I am now.
My art is all basically black-and-white because I feel like through black-and-white style a lot of emotions can be conveyed depending on what you draw. My main muses are foxes. I feel like they have a magical feel to them which I feel like I can connect with.
I would say persistence is key. You need to have fun with it and make sure you don’t compare yourself with other artists because they all started from somewhere. Find your inner artist soul and eventually you’ll get the audience that you want but remember the number of followers and likes are not important. You should just focus on what you want to create.
AfroTokyo (Kudzai Ngundu and Elisha Ngundu)
I like the vibes [of being back at Comic Con] and how everyone is together again.
There have been quite a few highs and lows. We ended up rejigging our company into a pre-production studio. We do comic books and stuff like that but people wanted other expertise from us like concept art and storyboarding. We ended up incorporating that with the comic books that we also do. We expanded and are kind of like a business now. So we’ve grown [since the 2019 Comic Con] and hopefully we continue growing.
I think creative jobs are going to be one of the last ones to go. It seems very hard to get into the industry but I think we are inching into more digital creative spaces. I think when all the robots take the jobs, these are going to be the last occupations [to go]. It seems bleak for jobs and that but I think we are going to inch into the [AI creative field].
Just follow your passions. Work hard and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Reach out to people because they are willing to help you – at least we are willing to help you.
We chatted with AfroTokyo at the 2019 Comic Con Africa. Check out the interview below.
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MM: I am an animator/illustrator. I was kind of obsessed with the cartoons on TV so I always wanted to produce something that was on TV. It’s crazy because our job title is literally living our childhood. I guess not a lot of people have that opportunity. Being able to be an artist is amazing and very self-fulfilling. It’s something that I can look back to and say I created that and other people enjoy that. That’s kind of my driving force – just interacting with the community.
The internet is the most powerful thing. Everything you want to learn is on YouTube or can be Googled. Don’t get overwhelmed. Just take it step by step and you will eventually find yourself in the industry.
JP: I am also an animator/illustrator. I am enjoying the experience so far. Basically the same answer. I grew up watching a lot of Cartoon Network and Boomerang and old TV shows. When I was out of school, I didn’t know what to do. I then realised I could do something that I liked doing as a kid and that became my career path. I enjoy the process of improving every time I do something. The community is great. It’s always fun to look back and see how I’ve done things better from a year ago. The improvement kind of keeps me going.
It’s a passion thing so if you love it – try it. Don’t be thrown off if you don’t get it right the first time. If you keep at it, you will get better. If you feel like you can keep going, you can definitely make a career out of it.
The voxes have been edited for clarity and brevity.
