Welcome to Art Unframed. I'm Vulcan, and together
with my Cohost Kafani, we dive into the raw side
of creativity. This podcast is about art without
limits, art that questions, art that pushes back,
art that shows us who we are. Every episode,
we sit with artists from around the world to
talk about their journey, their struggles, and
the stories behind their work. It's not just
about galleries and pretty pictures. It's about
freedom, vulnerability, and the power of creating.
Welcome back to Art Unframed. I'm Vulcan and
this is Season 2, where we keep exploring the
real stories behind creativity. Today we are
talking about something every artist thinks about.
How to stand out in a world full of portraits.
How do you create something that's yours? Something
that feels alive. To help me dig into that, I'm
joined by an amazing artist, Ify Hussein. Ify
is known for his charcoal portraits that blur
the line between the real and emotional drawings
that almost move like they are breathing emotion,
like as if wind is blowing through them. Ify
is really great to have you here. Welcome to
Art on French. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
So let's start from the beginning. Can you tell
us about yourself? And you can also kind of like
tell us who is Ify when he's not drawing. Okay.
So basically everybody knows that Ify is a very
simple guy. When I'm not drawing, instead I'm
listening to music, watching football. Like,
people know I'm a Chelsea fan. I make a lot of
noise about it. And maybe I'm thinking about
ideas. I go to church. I'm in the choir. So,
I sing from time to time. And I cook. Like, when
I told you I was, like, stressed out today, I've
been cooking, like, since morning. I'm just done
with everything I was doing. So, that's basically
who I am. That's nice. I'm also kind of like
a chef myself. I like to experiment on food,
you know. So I used to try different type of
things, different type of recipe when I'm not
doing art. So I can relate to that. It's really
stressful cooking, especially when I'm kind of
like particular about the taste. But going towards
your art, I would like to ask, like, what first
drew you towards realism and portraiture? Okay,
so I've always been fascinated by faces. Basically,
it all started when I was young. Primary, secondary
school, I was just fascinated about drawing.
I used to do assignments back then for people.
We had this rule in our house, no phone still,
you are done with secondary school. So once I
was done with secondary school, before then,
before I was done with secondary school, there
was this time I did a drawing of our state school
back then. I'm from Aquarium State. so i just
tried it out and i got the resemblance like really
really perfect all the textures and everything
like the depth and contrast were not like 100
% right but for a first time it was really perfect
so then i was like okay i could make this part
of my life and keep doing it so when i got the
phone when i was done with secondary school i
happened to open instagram facebook and started
seeing the likes of arizi so i'm sure most of
us we know them so from there i was like okay
i need to try reach their level because those
guys they make photographs look exactly like
the drawing they are making so that's how i was
fascinated about it and i was like okay yeah
let me do this the ball one of the things that
was driving me then maybe along the line was
as i was shifting from getting that like hyper
hyper realism to just try to recreate what's
in the photograph so most times people tell me
people ask me how do you even get your drawings
right i just want to say it's easy where you
see black you put black where you see white you
put white where you see gray you put gray so
that's what's basically it that's lovely so from
drawing people's chemistry okay or science um
diagrams and everything so going into portraits
it's really it's really lovely um i want to ask
like your charcoal portraits they have these
beautiful blood effects like almost like wind
or motion how did that style start and what does
it mean to you okay first of all they started
playfully i'm not going to come here i see i
saw it in a dream or any trance or something
it's just i playfully my friend posted a blurry
picture i was like i'm not done something like
this before i could just try it out and then
i just did it i still followed my normal pattern
try to get the black spots where the black spots
are where the white spots are where the gray
spots are just get them and then i got it right
like i just got it perfect like the very first
one i did i don't know if i can if i can pin
it up here just give me a second let me try so
i've pinned it up here so this was my very first
attempt so I just tried it out, pour the charcoal
on the paper as I normally do. And I have these
makeup brushes, which I just use. And then I
get everything like perfect. So as I doing that,
and it was fun, it was interesting because I'm
someone that on a normal, I just like blurry.
I don't like blurry pictures to an extent. I
don't know why it's, it's my sound weird to some
people. Like, why would I just love, love blurry
pictures? So since I started doing it and there's
this thing that. the algorithm also helps you
like maybe like your followers or your mutuals
just help you maybe decide what you want to do
and the sense that after doing that i did like
two extra ones um somebody commented i was like
you could make this your niche and then continue
doing this i still have that to its bookmark
somewhere and i was like okay yeah so that's
basically how i started doing blur and then i
just made it like a kind of style if i see any
blurry picture now i'm always fascinated i i
just want to enjoy it or try it out some are
very hard and i just try try try try try and
then i get it out at some points like i think
for now i've gotten really used to it just like
one of my pastors said one time when you're in
the mess for too long the mess now becomes a
message to you so i've been doing for quite too
long and i'm very very comfortable i do even
get my eyes don't ping me i might get a little
headache but once i get a headache i go i eat
a fang soup and then i'm fine You know, when
you talk about Afangso, I just remembered that.
And I know we used to both follow the same guy,
this guy, Aquaman. And when he's talking about
Afangso, he's very hilarious. But going to your
portrait, I just love the way it moves in motion.
It's just kind of like all these pictures that,
I don't know, that is kind of like shaking. And
it's really lovely. when you look at different
parts of them it gives this particular type of
double exposure effects which I love I'm also
into that type of work as well so when you're
working with charcoal what's the hardest part
is it like the patience or like perfecting the
piece to the end okay the hardest part about
this drawing is always the grid lines. Getting
the proportions right, like starting, let me
just say starting is always the hardest part
because sometimes you just, you set up your table,
your pencils and everything, then you are staring
at the blank paper. You are like, can I do this?
There are a lot of times, even till now, and
I'm like, I'm still, there's a little bit of
self -doubt that I'll be like, can I do this?
I don't know whether it's self -doubt. i was
like can i really do this then i just start and
then i then there's a part where you have to
be as patient as possible and don't try don't
rush anything you are doing so i just take it
bit by bit if it feels like if i feel sleepy
i go to sleep if i feel like maybe i need to
eat something i just go to eat so the hardest
part about it is just starting once i just start
and then there's some drinks i start i'm supposed
to take like maybe a week to finish it all Once
I start and I'm enjoying the groove and all of
that, maybe I play some music and all of that,
I could finish it up in a day. Yeah, so the hardest
part is basically just starting. Yeah, and sometimes
someone can't just even have that motivation
to even start something. So it's always good
that I always expect people that can start something
and kind of like have the energy to finish it
and see it through the end. so like what's your
process like from when you're creating a piece
like from the sketch to finish work how is it
like can you describe it okay so basically i
start with the proportion and i i use grid lines
i've not learned the other styles because i didn't
go to an art school and all of that so i use
grid lines first then i The next thing I go in
with is the sketch. I try to get the sketch so
that it fits into the paper I want to use. The
paper could be maybe 10, 15 inches or 10, 12
or thereabout. So I try to make sure it fits
in perfectly well and I try to just make sure
my sketch is also top -notch because if you miss
the sketch, most times, because I work with references
most of the time, I rarely do imaginative. It's
just maybe along the line, I'll just... put in
some imaginative things or put in some things
that i feel okay this would be here this would
be here i rarely do imaginative i know there
are people that they are called to do that one
not ready for me so i make sure i get the sketches
right like really light and then i start pouring
the charcoal bit by bit sometimes i draw depending
on my mood i could start from maybe the eyes
depending on what drawing it if it's a face i'm
drawing Aside from the eyes most times, or maybe
I just try to run it from top of the paper to
down of the paper. Sometimes from down of the
paper to top of the paper. Just like I said,
depending on my mood, then I just build the layers
of tones and shadows gradually. So I pour charcoal,
try to add more contrast. Because initially when
I started drawing, all this time I was always
scared to pour more charcoal on my paper or graphics.
I was always scared because I didn't... i didn't
have like put the complete tools especially erasers
there are these erasers that really help you
even if you pour as much charcoal as possible
if you need to clean off some i can still clean
it off so i just that's i think that's just basically
it so from there till like the finish point and
then i add all the highlights and everything
i need to do and make sure it looks exactly how
i want it to be sometimes it doesn't look exactly
like the reference but it looks exactly how i
want it to be That's lovely. So, like, there's
a fine line between drawing what you see and
drawing what you feel. How do you balance the
two? Okay. So, let me see. Drawing what I see
and what I feel, most of the time, that's why
I think from the other question I answered, I
said, like it depends on my mood because sometimes
i can just be drawing exactly what i see especially
if it's i think most times is when i'm doing
commissions i have to do exactly what i see exactly
like exactly what is there because the company
the person that's paying for the commission wants
it to look exactly like the picture boy is the
personal pieces i work on these are the ones
where i have to freestyle and if i feel like
okay this idea is lighter or it should be darker
or something out at that just parents just for
my mood and everything there's sometimes i'll
just sit there i could share the particular piece
for as long as possible until i feel okay this
is okay it's just like i think the normal instincts
where you see where our mothers cook and then
they are not the only thing maybe they could
portion a bit is the number of maggie they are
going to put maybe you could say they are putting
five cubes of maggie they are putting three cubes
of maggie or you see for salt when it comes to
salt just how they feel they will just pour the
salt into the food and then when he does feel
it's okay they'll not test it and well for the
drawing i'm not testing it obviously so sometimes
i just work then when i feel it's like okay it's
okay yeah i don't stop there and that's that's
the part that makes i think that's the part that
makes more uh most artists work look different
because you could give 10 artists a particular
picture to work on and it will all look even
if they work on the same medium and all of them
are trying to make like hyper realism it will
still have this difference you see this i know
that okay this is rapido's work you see this
i know okay this is toby's work and all of that
yeah that's lovely yeah it's just like i like
the way you kind of like use this cooking analogy
like the way it is like different recipes everybody
has the way they are going to come up with something
to make the same meal and yeah it's going to
taste the same but not really the same at the
same time Yeah, it's really nice the way you
kind of like put it together like that. So realism
can be tricky. It's really tough to stand out.
What do you think makes your kind of realism
different? I don't know what makes it different.
I don't know. I can't really hear what makes
it different. If you asked, I would really know
what makes it different. To an extent, I just
try to, like I said earlier, I just try to...
Where I see black spots, I make them black. Where
I see white spots, from the references I'm working
on, I make them that way. So, I don't know. Even
if it was food now, I would also say the test
is the difference and the difference is the test.
So, as you test it, you know that, okay, this
is your capacity. Do you think it's like about
style, story, or like something else entirely?
First of all, I think this is ignored. one thing
i would say just makes my work look different
is i think it's the blurry texture i think i
just shade it differently from the way other
artists shade if you watch some videos on youtube
you'll see people that are capable enough to
post their process and everything you see people
shade differently there are people that pour
water on their paper before they even start working
so there are ways i shade if you see like my
time lapse process where i post from time to
time there are ways i shade so it just looks
different and It's mostly the viewers that we're
able to tell, okay, okay, this work is different
from this one. Because somebody could see your
work and say, okay, this is your work. Somebody
could see my work. And for like the masters themselves,
the Marines there, when you could see Kelvin's
work and know, okay, this is Kelvin, you could
see this person's work and know, okay, this is
the Marines' work. I would never be able to answer
that. Yeah, you answered it perfectly. So I know
like recently, um this person mr beast um bought
your work and he's kind of like recognized your
work so far can you kind of like describe how
it happened and how did you feel in that first
moment okay so i i feel i felt happy i felt fulfilled
i felt i hope people know obviously i hope people
know where i'm drawing that from Okay, so how
did you feel at first? I was shocked. I was so
shocked. I think... I've not been shocked that
way in my life before. Maybe, yeah. I've not
been shocked that way in my life before. I posted
the drawing. Normally, I just posted the drawing
that, okay, people see that, okay, I could be
able to draw this blurry picture of Mr. Beast
and all and then I'll get a lot of engagement
as normal and not put my mind to him saying it's
because it's... obviously he's a celebrity and
then uh we have everyday artists draw celebrities
and then he gets aired or something like that
so my mom was just i'll get engagements from
me people would tag him as much as possible so
that afternoon i went to sleep and i woke up
i was about to have my bath and go for rehearsal
yeah in church so i said let me check my phone
for a bit only for me to check my phone i saw
that mr beast commented and he followed me i
started crying i was like what is this like why
like i started thinking of because you know when
you the whole algorithm thing and everything
you when you want to post your artwork you are
thinking of the time to post the best time and
everything or anything you are doing you like
how do you do it right like so i was now thinking
there was a part i was now thinking okay what
if i didn't post this thing today what if i posted
it like yesterday what if i posted it earlier
because normally most times i like posting my
art by 3 p .m new arts especially i like putting
like 3 p .m west african time in the afternoon
so but this one i was just like i posted that
morning so just like the bible says all things
work together for my good so it just worked out
that way for me and then when it happened i was
overwhelmed i cried i was like ah but i was like
okay this will not make me stay back for real
though so i rushed to realize i was on everything
i was smiling all through people would see me
out smiling on the road and everything i wonder
i was waiting to be this one because the smile
anyhow so that's how basically everything felt
that the and i tried not to just i was i was
a little excited but i tried to like keep myself
in check as much as possible i'll do to put away
on my timeline that time so that i was like it
was not it was not like check check like that
so it's a it's a lovely it's a little bit of
course there's no there's no joy kind of like
um there's nothing trying to kind of like hide
that particular type of excitement it's really
Yeah, my guy was telling me I'm being too much.
But when he told me I was doing too much, he
ended his statement with, he ended his statement
with, none of us has been here before. So he
can't really justify whatsoever my reaction of
it. Exactly. And apart from that, you've also
been speed drawing for a while. i normally used
to come across your drawings in my timeline where
you would just kind of like see a random picture
and you would just kind of like speed draw it
and show the person so i think you've been doing
it for a while and like and what you said about
timing too like timing matters and yeah sometimes
the usual time you normally post it and then
there's not really there's not really an actual
time that is the best time for engagement and
yeah it's just like exactly the the universe
kind of like responded as you kind of like posted
um so did that like recognition change anything
for you like how people saw your work and how
you saw yourself as an artist for me nothing
has changed i'm still i'm still the same as i
show up every day wake up and touch pencils and
do my usual thing and maybe some things i don't
know I don't know what people think on the outside.
I can't really see for them. I can't really speak
for them because they are seeing things differently.
I'm not seeing things normally. I come online.
I do my usual house. I see other artists' work.
I read tweets and comments. If I need to do,
like those feed printings I used to do, if I
see a beautiful reference on the timeline, if
I need to, if I need to draw it, I'll draw it
if I have the time. Yeah, there are some other
things I just have going on and some things,
some structures I set up. i just keep doing them
i don't see myself like i don't because there's
this thing where if you want to i don't think
i can mention yamal in this we're dragging him
recently there's this thing where there's this
picture where he puts it i think he tried to
put the crown on himself i never i think i was
not looking at him and in some sort of way so
i don't want to like put i try not to just get
overwhelmed um when you start doing things said
a prayer um recently for pastor nathaniel basi
on his birthday and he was like he prays that
god like he he should not um like know the impacts
he has on people's life like him himself he should
not know because there's how you get to know
some certain things and you now lose track of
okay the purpose of what you're supposed to do
so i try not to just get overwhelmed and maybe
like get let's get to me but yeah some certain
things will change obviously but Not all of it.
I'm still listening to you for real, Syke. Yes,
nice. You know, I was kind of thinking whether
it was going to kind of be difficult to send
a message to you. I would be kind of like trying
to put you on this space. So I was kind of like
setting a schedule for you and everything. And
then I was just like... ify would you like to
come and i was like sure what time so it's really
great um yeah thank you for giving me the opportunity
to interview i wonder why you were scared because
we've been guys for quite a long time so i don't
know nobody should care i'm not good i think
somebody even commented one time somebody commented
on my process video of me signing the works with
mr beast somebody commented uh it's the beast
see me he said after a giveaway they use boss
am i supposed to fly plane and go to actually
we've been talking for a while so yeah it's kind
of like and you've always kind of like been like
that even before any of all these things happen
like you we are always kind of like i'm always
coming to ask you about different type of things
and then you will give me tips about different
things so yeah it's really nice to hear from
you um so like there's a lot of pressure in our
today especially online like to go viral to be
seen or so like how do you stay true to your
craft without losing yourself in trends okay
so you see that pressure of getting to trend
yeah people used to people used to most times
adults like to say just trust the process because
that fame you want to get to you can get there
and then you will not see that there is nothing
there especially the parts where I think I don't
know what made this guy sing this song this song
that says lowly at the top I like if you notice
this recent thing that happened to me I like
the fact that it's not just me like few months
ago something big happened to Rapido which includes
my guy something which has happened to Midi Midi
that just met Ade Kunle good and satire reposted
at works and everything so you've seen that for
me it feels better that way that okay it's not
just me most of my guys even like my friend that
is on here Bito has made some wins herself like
recently and some other people that I know yeah
so that pressure to go viral most times it's
not really really because you could get there
you will not even have like some busy time for
yourself imagine now okay you're not just the
only person that has reached out to me for like
an interview and everything if I want to follow
all this interview and everything I'll be going
out for all of it I'll forget that, okay, I have
to create more artworks. I still need to make
more artworks. I'm not, I'm very, very young.
I still need to make more artworks and all of
that. So I could get too excited, start going
for all these interviews and then I forget that,
okay, I have stuff to do. Okay, recently I posted
that I got into an art residency. Now, if I've
said, okay, I've made it, I've gotten to the
top, I have a whole lot to do and all of that,
then I'll not go for art residency. Then I'm
supposed to help my life, help my career, and
help my CV as an artist. I'll not do all of that.
So, one thing about the pressure to go viral,
how do you even stay true to yourself? Just remind
yourself why you started. Did you start to just
get to it? If you started to just get to the
top, then fine. Do whatever you want to do. But
you should check back. Why did you start creating?
It's something I love doing. I know obviously
you need to make money and all of that and everything.
If I make money and make like some bastard money
and everything, I'll still go back to my craft,
go back to what I love doing. So for myself,
I just tried to remind myself why I started and
I didn't start to train. I didn't start to do
some, like some of those crazy things. Like for
me, I stay in my house. Like I can be in my house
for the whole week, not going out. I'll just
go to maybe church or maybe an art exhibition
or... some other basic things like that. So I
just focus on purpose. If there are certain things
I need to get done, I just get them done. Things
that are, especially things that will help my
craft. So I'm not really, really all about, especially
you see that fame that doesn't come with money.
I'm not part of it. So sometimes people want
to get viral, viral, all of that, but it's not
bringing money to your table. How do you want
to survive at the end of the day? So make sure
that whatever fame you want to get into is also
bringing money to your table. yeah it's true
you know it's one thing having that fame and
it's one thing having money you know like and
also there is also one of the things about getting
that recognition and then sometimes you will
just be in a particular type of state whereby
okay my work has been recognized by this person
but yet I still don't have money at the moment
and Then let's say you are in an exhibition as
well. You just be like, yeah, I just wish this
work soon or something like that. Um, have you
ever felt that way? Like even like when you got
recognized about something and then you just
had this particular feeling about, about, yeah,
this particular type of situation. I mean, like
having this recognition, and then you just had
this particular type of feeling where um yes
you'll be like you you've not kind of like made
enough bastard money like you say and yeah have
you ever kind of like felt that way no most times
if i'm if i'm posting my heart on the on the
internet and everything i get some sort of okay
the only time maybe i may feel bad about it is
my personal works if they don't sell The ones
that have a super area and everything. Those
are the only ones. That's why I stopped early
in my career. I joined celebrities because at
the end of the day, some of them will just look
you and just pass. So I don't stop that. So the
only time where I feel maybe some type of sadness
is when my works get viral. My works have got
so viral a lot of times and the work always sells
out. Then the ones that don't sell out are the
ones that I always feel sad. I'm like, okay,
maybe... you don't want to buy it but it's a
part of me that also feels that if somebody has
a booked map and is waiting for some sort of
cash to enter then someone will buy it yeah yeah
that's the thing about art like it always has
its own time you cannot kind of like dictate
when it's going to sell or a particular moment
is going to get recognized you just keep on doing
what you're doing and then sometimes some work
we just kind of like take some time it will sit
out there and then you might make something and
it's just going to get to that recognition and
you might even like you might even like that
one more than the other one the one that is sitting
out there it's just what it is um so how do you
balance detail and imperfection like when do
you know that a piece is done Okay, so when I
feel at peace, most times, I think my siblings
are always around when I'm drunk. When they first
hear me stash housing, they know they drop ass
like this. That's when I'm done. I don't stash
housing that particular act because I used to
look at my house and I was like, ah, let me draw
this thing. Let me draw it. Once I just feel
at peace, I'll be like, okay, this is it. And
then I'm done. Because there's that, the point
where You now start doing unnecessary finishing
touches and then you spoil the work. I think
this is something that every artist relates to.
So even if you want to go ahead and correct too
much, that's why even working on it with like
a commission piece or sometimes I don't hit commission
pieces. Well, at least you used to bring money
to the table. When I'm working on commission
pieces, I try to make sure I get the resemblance
as much as possible to make sure everything is
right. And then I test it with my eyes, test
it with my manager sees it and then some other
people see it and I send it to the clients. they
were saying to the client and the client is like
oh yeah this is perfect this is good you can
go ahead and frame it i'm always at peace and
like i'm fine but the parts where you now start
telling me the ears is bigger than the the nose
or can you ask more baby for me and all of that
you now start try to maybe erase or maybe add
more details and everything and it ends up messing
the work so i just It's just basically when I
feel peace with the wok. So I just make sure
I do little finishing touches and then I just
leave it the way it is because if you want to
overdo, you'll end up spoiling the wok. Yeah.
There's one thing they say about when you chef,
when someone finishes cooking and then you just
decide to add just a tiny pinch of salt and that
salt will just end up spoiling the whole meal.
It really happens to me this afternoon that I
don't spoil cooking. He nearly happened to do.
What are you making? I was making Afan too. I'm
not going to drop Lutisha on Sha. Anyway, Aquaman
is going to be there. That guy is always in every
place where they are making Afan too. You will
just see him wearing a lawyer wig or something.
So, like, every artist needs a moment of doubt.
Like, what keeps you going when your inspiration
feeds? Or when your work feels slow? Like, when
you have this creative block, what keeps you
going? Okay, first off, I used to give thanks
to the source that creates life. I'm going to
pray. I don't pray. Because, like, this is how
a guy said, I don't know where he got that line
from. We are nothing but pencils in the hands
of the creator. Yeah, so at the end of the day,
if I don't have, like, the Holy Spirit to guide
me, sometimes I'll just, yeah, so I'll just go
pray, sleep, watch a movie, and everything. I
think the last space we had before with the Access
Fellowship on Monday was talking about art blocks
and all of that. So, sometimes I just leave it
and, yeah, that's why I have i have like different
styles so sometimes when i'm working with charcoal
i work with charcoal for too long i just be like
okay i pick up my black pen and then i start
scribbling scribble scribble just takes me into
another dimension and another world entirely
because they're just you see how scribble is
like it's just chaka chaka that makes sense so
nonsense with sense something like that yeah
so i just do that and then i i used to help people
that paint because is most times that people
when they will have ad blocks that's when painters
used to paint the one of the best one of their
best artwork in the world who does sky paint
and one is just black and white i'm happy with
it yeah but it's when you have those as blocks
i think painters have more advantage because
they just mix colors i don't know mix some weird
color and then don't call it one name that's
how we have colors like cockroach brown sea green
and all of that and everything don't mind me
please i'm just joking yeah so yeah so i think
that's just basically it's just try i used to
try out different things or just go out sometimes
because we artists i know most of us we are we
have extroverted features in our body but we
are more introverted than the extroverted because
we are always indoors maybe just but so at that
point i'll just try to go out that's why i like
going to church go he has house do music and
all of that i'm planning to get a piano at home
so sometimes when i feel that way because i play
the piano yeah so i could just get played move
from my joint table go to the piano play some
music and all of that so that's it that's lovely
yeah like there's even something about like even
if someone is like you're not feeling good about
what you're making at the moment like you should
just make it that's where sometimes you can just
have fun just doing making that your scribble
or whatever you call jaga jaga or something like
just like just keep creating like no matter what
um if you could give one piece of advice and
yeah i'm going to ask this before like if anybody
have any question you can come up to ask if if
you if you could give one piece of advice to
artists trying to stand out in a world full of
portraits or art what would they be Okay, so
I'll give advice to artists in the world. So
the very first thing I would say is just be yourself.
Because people tend to try to be somebody and
then end up losing themselves in the process.
Why am I saying this? I tried so much to be careful.
I tried so much to be a ranger in my life. And
look who I am now. The picture that I got me.
the most fame is not even hyper -realism. It's
a blurry picture like everybody has seen. It's
a blurry picture. It's never hyper -realism.
So I just take truth to myself. I just did what
made me happy and then just kept doing it. So
just take truth to yourself. The whole world
is big enough for everybody and the sky is big
enough for everybody to shine. So don't feel,
okay, you you you want to now be copying somebody
and became exactly what another person is doing
no i like there's this um there's this trend
i saw somebody somebody started it there i can't
i'm trying to remember his name is it to not
to be i remember his name the way he posted my
ads then and my ads now i mean his ads then was
hyper real like realism to a certain level and
then his art now is just a rough like very very
rough sketch and he's very very okay with it
i saw a lot of artists jump on that trend if
if you are active on twitter you must have seen
it so i like that they were very very true they
were very very okay with okay this is how they
want their ads to look like this is how they
want their ads if you are in nfts you see that
there are a whole lot of artists and people do
a lot of crazy things so that's just basically
stay true to yourself don't chase don't chase
something that you are not don't be If you know
that, okay, this is what you want to do, this
is how you like to do it, just do it. That's
one of the reasons why I didn't even go to art
school because if I go to art school, they'll
try to make me what I'm not and then just put
me on a path that I'm not supposed to be on.
So the basic thing is just be yourself and try
to be perfect and try to add much value to yourself
in some certain way because you want to get into
the world where there are a lot of people. Okay,
people are already doing this work. Just try
to still keep. what can you do differently don't
put much pressure on what can you do differently
just paint just draw then if it comes it comes
if it doesn't come you just leave it there one
day one day one day one day one day you'll find
your parts and everything so and also try to
be unique in some sort of way just try to be
unique you can't go and be saying okay because
because me they drew i am adequately good in
this type of way you now want to go and draw
adequately good that's type of way i think he's
going to answer you he's not going to answer
you he's not going to he's not going to i saw
i saw i'm not trying to shade anybody but i saw
that after drawing mr beast somebody um i think
few other artists some of them i don't know them
tried to do some paintings of mr beast thinking
he will see it maybe he has seen it but he obviously
he's not going to respond so don't try to because
okay this one is doing this now you're not going
to enjoy it besides when you are you are sure
that okay that is not you and everything so don't
try to stay unique in your own way and be honest
to yourself don't lie to yourself whatever you
are doing if you are drawing for passion draw
for passion if you are drawing for money draw
for money don't lie to yourself anyhow anyhow
also the major part is if you are honest with
yourself you you will get there so the world
doesn't need more the world doesn't need more
perfect arts it needs authentic ones i don't
know if you understand what like people understand
what i mean by that by that statement it needs
like authenticity is better than just getting
like perfect because yeah and this world is not
even perfect perfect like that so you try to
accurate like the perfect artwork you might not
okay see me that i'm making blurry works it's
not like the most perfect like clearest pictures
of all and that's what's making me like stand
out in my own way and everything so that's basically
what i have to say to every other artist out
there just be unique That's great. Yeah, thank
you. That was really insightful, like what you
said about standing out, like making sure what
you make is really about you. In case anybody
kind of like have any question that they would
like to ask Ify before I close up on the interview,
you can come up, you can request to speak and
then I'll bring you up. i'm just going to kind
of like give a couple of minutes why if it's
kind of warming is a funk soup and everything
warming up and soup came in i'm eating i i cannot
anyway sure this this or he called its new iphone
feature of separating this thing i can't i can't
i could not hear any sound of a fan they are
eating a fan soup and it's not slapping like
how is that happening There are ways, there are
ways to do these things. There's a lot of people
that used to wear suits, suit or shirt and sit
down and do interview. Yeah. Um, I'm, I'm kind
of guilty in that particular aspect. Like when
someone is having like a meeting, I'll just be
wearing suits with my, with my house clothes.
Anyway, it is what it is. So it seems like nobody
has any question to you and they really learned
a lot from you. Thank you for coming to the space,
Ify. It was such a beautiful conversation. Thank
you for sharing your story, your process, and
the art behind your work. What I love most is
how your art reminds us that Starting out isn't
about doing something loud. It's about doing
something honest. Something that feels like you.
And you do it quite well. To everyone listening,
thank you for tuning in to Art on Friend. If
you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone
who loves art or needs a little creative push
today. And I'm Vulcan and this is where we keep
the conversation real. See you in the next one.
hey wait wait wait wait see my ghost kafani where
are you let me just let me just be helpful like
i was calling i was calling her like this girl
we have his face we have we have his face now
she was sleeping and then oh my god And hi, everyone.
Good afternoon. I hope you get well. Having bedroom
voice, just like waking up early. I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry. I actually did set an alarm, but
we'll talk about it later, please. Let's not
talk about it. Yeah, we'll talk about it later.
Hi, I'm Ife. Hi, Bitua. Hi, everyone. I hope
you guys are well. Thank you for tuning in to
Art Unframed. I'm Kafani. Thank you for coming.
Thank you so much.