Past Work: One Of My Earliest Oil Paintings

I was at Port Harcourt recently where I spotted an early painting, which was leaning on a wall in my brother's office. Seeing that piece of work took me back almost two decades!

I had just discovered the oil medium and was still struggling to learn how to manipulate the thick, sludge-like paste that was completely different from watercolours! The work was done on cardboard hence the framing.

Past Work: My Old Paintings

I found these canvases while clearing out my storage space. 

Recent Work: Showcase-2014 Illustrations And Designs

I recently started a new journal SHOWCASE-2014 solely for all my new media inspired illustration and designs. These works are, so far, all created with CorelDraw X3 as vector graphics. The following are various stages of development. The final works can be seen here.

Past Work: My Early Oil Paintings

Though I did some oil painting during my undergrad years, I remember getting pretty serious about the medium after my graduation. I bought Walter Foster instruction books on painting and tried to learn on my own- part of the reality of being self taught. I bought mainly Winsor & Newton products because the only major art supplier around was a distributor. They were very pricey! That was a really expensive hobby for me (and for my parents who footed the bill). Most of my works then were abandoned as I travelled to Port Harcourt for my post graduate studies (in Engineering).

Years later, I discovered my parents had kept my works and later displayed them around their home. Just looking at then takes me back. It wasn't all fun then, I had a really difficult time understanding and getting used to the vast difference between using watercolours and oil painting. But today, those are fond memories.

Recent Work: Music Studio Mural Art

I was commissioned to create a Sci Fi influenced wilderness landscape painting for the broad wall of a music studio. Armed with the dimensions and a photo, I tried to envision how the large painting will look using vector graphics.

Posted below are various stages of the actual painting.

And the completed painting...

Recent Work: Tribute To An Old Friend

I mentioned in my previous post that an old friend of mine had passed. I was so overwhelmed by the many testimonies of goodwill during his burial ceremony, I was moved to say Adieu in my own way- a portrait painting to remember him by.

Past Work: Portrait Paintings For My Sisters

 

A few years back, I made portrait paintings for my sisters, Arin and Oye. The paintings were oil on canvas with simple wood frames. I neglected to snap photos of the works on completion but later received these snapshots. Just my way of saying thanks to two wonderful women who have encouraged and supported me over the years. 

Recent Work: Vector Painting As Gift

I just finished framing a painting I created in CorelDRAW. More here.

Recent Work: 'Police Arrest Native Doctor' Cartoon

I read about the splendid work the Onitsha Police did over this weekend (Punch Newspapers, written by Emmanuel Obe). The culprits included a 'juju man' who provided supernatural protection for the armed thieves. Though armed robbery is a sad and serious matter, I found the superstition of the robbers and the moment of clarity, when they discover their faith in charms was futile, to be very funny. Hence this cartoon.

Copyright 2011 Olusola Akinseye.

Recent Work: Ancient Yoruba Character Designs

I am working on a project that requires period designs of six characters from the political and military life of ancient Yoruba culture. I found the Oba, Iyalode, Oluwo, Balogun, Eso and Ilari suitable for my purpose.

 

 

 

 

The pencil art has been ready over a year but I just had time to work on the painting.

 

 

 

 

 

I felt my first Iyalode design (below) was too modern. I decided to make her look more 'powerful' to reflect her political might (above).

All artwork copyright 2011 Olusola Akinseye

Recent Work: Poverty And Hunger In Africa Cartoon

I just finished illustrating a cartoon about poverty and hunger in Africa. I based my concept on the wide difference between the abundance of the ‘Haves’ and the abject lack of the ‘Have-nots’. The visual might seem a bit distasteful for some, but I feel it aptly demonstrates the current state and expectation of the impoverished.

The first sketch captures the composition in profile. I later felt it was too tidy and I could have done a better job illustrating the obese man stuffing himself. A point of interest for me in this composition, is the reality of ‘trickle-down’ economics in third world society. That is, the improvement of the state of the poor is connected to what flows down from above. And we all know what flows downhill. 

The second composition took about 5 hours to complete.

  

I focused on visually displaying the supply difference: surfeiting against limited supply.

 

I did not want to resort to the common cartoon practice of sticking a label on the second man that reads ‘Africa’. I feel the observant viewer might instead notice the peculiar shape of his head.

 

Copyright 2011 Olusola Akinseye

Past Work: Tortoise Versus Elephant Illustration

One of the most popular tales about Ijapa (Yoruba name for Tortoise) is how he used his wiles to overcome the mighty Elephant. These illustrations were commissioned for a short retelling of the story.

 

Recent Work: Omachonu- Illustration of Story Book

I have finally concluded the story book commission. Now titled Omachonu, after the lead character. The book is going to press shortly and a gallery is available for viewing at my Shownd.com gallery.

I made two covers for the client, Mrs. Rosemary Shimite Erazua-Oniha. She chose the second concept. Also uploaded is a stage-by-stage process for two of the illustrations.

 

 

Recent Work: Focus on some ‘VOTE’ design elements

As I collate the various files used during this project, I see some aspects I particularly enjoyed working on. Here are just a few.

I gave attention to the face on the first version of the My Vote My Future design. I used many transparent layers of vector shapes to achieve the final look of the portrait.

The image for the No Vote No Voice design was a bit rushed as I was really pressed for time. Yet, I still had to go through the process of penciling, inking and painting in Adobe Photoshop. The final gray scale look came out as desired.

The vector icons on the second My Vote My Future design are rendered in full colour. I particularly enjoyed the process of accomplishing the education-employment combo. Though simple, I think the final look communicates the message aptly.

A personal favourite is the unselected first version of The Power of The Thumb design. It was actually the very first of the whole gallery to be featured on the exclusive creatives site Designers Couch. I like the colour harmony and perspective of the thumb. Also, I played a little trick in achieving the thumb print ink stain. I converted a bitmap of a thumb print into vector using CorelTRACE. This made it easy to work with the print as a vector graphic in CorelDRAW.