All he needs is a pencil, brush and paper and he is the happiest person one can ever get. With an impeccable experience of drawing for almost two decades, Fillemon Negumbo (23) never thought he would be tapping into the type of artistry he is into right now – Hyperrealism.
“I have been drawing for 19 years but at the beginning, it was not hyperrealism. I was a child and only loved drawing. Anywhere I got paper and pencil, I would always make a sketch. I remember when I started school; I used to draw in my classmates’ books because they asked for a drawing. It was fun but who knew that would become a passion,” Negumbo told Entertainment Now!
Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph. It is considered an advancement of Photorealism by the methods used to create the resulting paintings or sculptures.
“Hyperrealism artist is an artist who likes to show off the level of talent they possess; how incredible their eyes capture fine details of an object or person and reflect it onto paper,” he enlightened.
Negumbo said he is fond of drawing people. “I preferred drawing people mostly but things have changed now. I’m exploring animals, plants and objects because, in that, I can learn certain things and improve more. One cannot just continuously do one thing over and over,” recalled Negumbo.
His main inspiration includes Jack Ede from Denmark, Juliane Berge from Norway and Kelvin Okafor from Britain, whom he came across first via social media.
“When I was exposed to social media, mainly Instagram, I came across a few artists like those. Looking at their work, I was amazed at how one can be so good at getting everything right on paper with the drawing that looks like a photograph but just in black and white. Something in me said I was no different from them and I can also be that good. Ever since that time, I became hungry to improve my skills and technique,” said the determined young artist.
His beautiful collection is noticeable on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, with the idea of advancing to other means of display.
Negumbo said in terms of income, it doesn’t help him with his daily needs. “It, however, does help with rebuying the equipment like blenders, brushes, pencils, papers and charcoals,” he said.
He mentioned that such a painting doesn’t come cheap elsewhere but he has downed his prices as people felt it was too costly for them. Negumbo has realised he needs to find his clientele. “There is a target market; people love these types of paintings and are willing to pay for it – I just need to find them,” stated Negumbo.
“I have cut down the prices because everyone that has approached me always complained about it and me only starting, I thought it was a good idea to do that. I was inexperienced in the industry and now I know exactly what I need to do,” he concluded.
Negumbo does his drawings on the A3 and A2 papers and the intention with all he has right now is to create his art, show off the creative side and put out his work.
-psiririka@necp.com.na