₦airaland Forum

To everyone: it's upto you to determine where Light and Shade come into your painting/drawing. Because there's a shadow undernearth the nose, doesn't mean you should make the shape and value of the shadow the same on your drawing. Remember a large shadow is determined by the angle of Light hitting the object casting the shadow. 2Face was lit from aboveby a strong softbox to one side of his face, it's upto you to know how dark and small the shadow is. That knowledge comes from training and experience. www.alizarene..com

[quote author=Da'GeeNius]I bliv wen u get 2c d real pic u wld understand ma shadingz!!![/quote]It would have been better if you hadn't put up the original source. I made a bet with another artist (who said you copied this from a pic, used grids and had no technical knowledge). He just won that bet. Exactly what I said about the shadows, he said too (and he said that's how you know amateurs, he is an artist whose work is in the National Gallery and he has painted a lot of high profile portraits). You copied the picture, ANYONE can do that. If you want to be an artist, make a portrait and let it be your work, technically and artistically.

I LIKe the concept, but you NEED technical Art training. If you do my portrait and you make me look like I have a mustache+my eyebrows start at the middle of my nose, I WON'T pay you, even if that is what the picture said, and I know you wanna make money from this. Go online, look for Bert Dodson's "Key to Drawing" and Harley Brown's "Eternal Truths for an Artist" and start studying. Go on fb and look for Isimi Taiwo and Ibe Ananaba, see their works, study them.

centje: onegai, do you paint and is that your blog?

Yes, I paint and that's my blog. I used to paint alone, then I realised I needed formal training in Drawing, Colour Theory, Design, Emotion to make my paintings become art. So I'm on my quest to get it.

Portraits are really hard, and it's not just getting a likeness, it's getting a feel of the personality of the subject too. All you photorealistic guys are very impressive.

There's a student of CRUTECH art department who does a similar style in pastel, he's also trained in classical art methods by some of the best nigerian artists. He paints very good portraits. How can I post pictures?

Shall I tell you what will happen? The case will take a year to get to court. In that time, Chinyere Wagbaranta will be sent abroad by her parents, not to return for years. She'll go to school, get a job. Ikeoluwa will remain dead. After a while, Chinyere Wagbaranta (remember her name, she's a killer) will return to the country, filled with her "oyinbo school and experiences, an oyinbo accent" and get a nice job over many NLers who waited for ASUU strike to end and got a shoddy degree. She'll be smug, and at peace externally. Ikeoluwa's parents will have memories of their baby and a grave. That's it.

I've met someone who got away with manslaughter in Nigeria, his family did the same. I found out years later. He's doing his Mba in UK now and they're talking about him coming home to a job in Chevron. His victim remains dead and Justice wears a blindfold.

Stop waiting for Karma, God gave us laws like "Thou shalt not kill". Let us Nigerians be responsible for once. Write an email to the UK or US embassy, state the case, mention Chinyere Wagbaranta (the killer)'s name over and over. Insert the punch online article for this. Let them know the visa is going to a killer. If they get 2000 emails saying the same thing, they'll revoke the visa. If they don't, let foreign bloggers be alerted about the case. Nothing like public outrage to make the brit and US govts sit up. Fight for Ikeoluwa, because you and your loved ones are in danger, and prayers won't save you, because you're guilty as well.

Give Ikeoluwa a voice.

Photorealism, not bad. BUT, just a few corrections: the eyebrows look like they started down the nose and he looks like he had a mustache on half of his upper lip. And that happened because of you not paying attention to shadows. Even though shadows are on the face, you have to control them and modify them to look like shadow and not a stain on the face. Check out portrait works of Rembrandt and Velaquez, (they used candles to light their models!) And notice they don't have very dark shadows on the face in large areas or focal points, they suggest the shadow rather than draw it. Kudos for everything else, we are still learning www.alizarene..com

I'm working backstage on this show. It's pretty well organized. All fashion shows are chaotic and I've done NYFW. This one is the same. Everyone should come check it out and on saturday, Lagos Photo Exhibition will be holding at the same venue. It's great for networking and for those wanting to work on it, they usually ask for interns to apply like a month before. Check out www.styljunki.com for fashion industry jobs like this and send emails to the designers involved that you would like to intern. www.naijapretty..com

We have gorgeous Bamboo forests all over Ondo state, mist covered mountains in Ondo state, hot springs, Oguta, Islands off Lagos, Yankari, all these places which we don't celebrate or maintain properly.

Go to Artworld, Emab shopping plaza, plot 751 Aminu Kano crescent, shop E9, Wuse 2, Abuja. That's the closest shop to you. Their number is 08023000104. The only decent pastels they have is Rembrandt and Winsor and Newton, their good acrylic paint is Winsor and Newton. HTH.
www.alizarene..com

To the OP, go online, buy a fashion magazine. Find the contact of a small but good designer or a stylist. Send them an email or call. Tell them you want to intern with them, for free. Yes, I said for free. You want knowledge, you have to pay for it somehow. Eventually one will reply and say come in. Go and work your butt off. That will give you experience and contacts.
Carry out the steps I listed in my first post whilst doing this. The main problem I see with interns/interviewees is that they show up for a meeting unprepared. So do your research, because believe me, someone else will go there, know when the designer/stylist started their business, know their esthetic, know about what is going on globally, bring out coloured sketches (and even some ideas on what fabrics to use) and be eager to work. And will get a job. Not all of them will reply your email or text or call, but you just need one "yes".

The last reply before this was a good one. However, if I own an online store or any business, I will resist taking on someone with no experience and no idea of delivering business orders. Which is what you are right now. Now, you can still go ahead, apply and try learning on the job. It's upto you decide how you want to mold your future.

trendyME: Hey Onegal I've been trying to look for a fashion university but its so hard to find any. They are mostly 6 months programmes in Nigeria.can you reccommend any fashion university

I don't know any fashion schools in Nigeria that I would trust myself to go to. If you read my original post carefully, I mentioned universities/tech schools in Nigeria whom I felt offered a good foundation course in Art and Textiles, I've met their alumni and they ended up going to learn how to sew and design on their own after that. Some came out good and others cames out fantastic (and popular). FIT and CSM are in the US and the UK. Do your research and figure out what would work out best for you, staying in Nigeria and studying or going abroad to school.
I find myself wanting to buy things from abroad, but then realised the greatest artists used what was around them to create Beauty. If you cannot buy something, make it or make another thing work for you. Wetin dey for Sokoto, e dey for shokoto.

working on a movie set is very weird, it's like a small world on its own and you feel isolated and act differently than you would normally. So much can happen there, and on yoruba movie sets, Gold Circle can practically sponsor the set, the amount of shenanigans going on! You not only need to be strong, you need to be very very disciplined.

Larrey: 2face,asa,banky w,darey,tiwa salvage,omawunmi,praiz etc are good wen it comes to live performance

Errr, hold up one minute, did you just mention TIWA SAVAGE gives good live performances??!! LOL!!!! She has ZERO stage presence and can barely sing live. Trust me, we've been backstage too many times. She has the most excellent packaging, because in this here Naija, we will buy mediocre talent as long as it is packaged beautifully. The only concerts I can pay for are Darey Art Alade and Psquare, I work for my moni o.

Tiwa Savage give good live performance, chei! Even my non-musical friends called me to vex after they attended something she did live.

[quote author=n_armani]I really think i can learn from you o. And i dont really understand what you mean bye lifeless and flat. I do portraits with grids and i get the whole 3D look, but i don't get the whole lifeless thing. Maybe you can explain somethings to me.[/quote]This is the work of one of my tutors, Wallace Ejoh. Compare it, can you see how you can get a feel of the personality of the sitter? In contrast, when you look at people who rely solely on grids and nothing else, you cannot say anything about the person who got painted. As for classes, you need to take them in person.

http://www.sachsgallery.com/Album24.htm

yup, Artworld is on Ojuelegba road. They've split into 2 locations, the 2nd one is bigger and located on the road on which FCMB is, off Ojuelegba road.

Kneadable erasers can be bought for about N350 at Writing and Drawing Sensation, which is also an art store. they are located on Ojuelegba road as well, right after UBA.

You can use cooking charcoal to draw, if it's soft enough. I've done a portrait in it. But even better, get someone to teach you how to draw. you will be shocked at home much you don't know.

no answers, but that's really good. i'll ask around some IT students, if they know.
www.alizarene..com

If you are taught by an art school who still use the old classical masters' methods, they'll teach you with grids, then eventually remove them. There's nothing wrong with grids if you KNOW the rest of the technical challenges involved in doing portraiture. That's my beef with the streetside portrait artists in Nigeria, they use grids and pictures and burnt sienna colour and all their portraits come out flat, bland and lifeless, though resemblance will be there. Art is more than just copying what you see in front of you.

Apples and Oranges salon in VI have some natural hairdressers and O Naturals have opened up a salon in Ogudu that caters solely to natural hair (it's owned by 2 sisters whom have natural hair). I don't have their addresses but if you google them, it will come up.

Please refer back to my original post: it's up to you to find out those people who those people are and network with them. Go knock on their doors till one gives you an opportunity, and if not, create your opportunity. Everyone is out there creating their chances, no-one will give you their spot on a plate. Please do the hardwork. Goodluck.

What you're talking about is organizing a fashion event, so you need to be business-oriented and know the people involved in those kind of things. That takes networking. Are you attending high-profile fashion events? You should be.

And to the 2nd question about metallics and nud-e colours, you should check online and do your research on colours, what is trendy, what are classic colours and colours for appropriate seasons and events.

Hi guys, I do know something about Fashion and Art and Entertainment. However, why don't we answer our questions online here on this forum, as I'm not comfortable giving out my email address, as I use it for mostly work purposes and your emails may get lost in the pile of work stuff I normally get. What can I help you with?

Jehovah, you're praised. I saw Femi this year, imagine he would have been no more.

I once asked one of Nigeria's foremost painters about the meaning of paintings. He replied "Art critics can spend 3 pages writing and talking about one painting. Art lovers can write music and books and teachings on one painting. The painter himself, if asked, will write only one paragraph about his work. Art is in the eye of the beholder."

To me, as an artist, this painting is incredible because of the technical profiency. Linear Perspective is perfected, use of colour glows and sings and is almost 3D. Da Vinci also captured a calm emotion which tells you nothing, so makes you wonder even more.

Let the "Mona Lisa" by Da Vinci mean what it means to you, not what others tell you it should mean.
www.alizarene..com

Cool. Now, this answer is for anyone interested, not just the OP.
I've got some questions for you: are your sketches in colour, do you show back and front view, any proportion to your drawings?
Next set of questions: when you sketch, do you think about fabric options, finishings, patterns, how you're going to cut and fit to which body type, what type of person are you trying to dress (Tiwa Savage, Genevieve or Tonto Dike)?

The answers to each set of questions will guide a bit to showing whether you're a fashion illustrator or a designer. Both are different careers.

Next, if you're serious about it, you need to go to Art school (a good uni that teaches textile design, like Enugu, UNN, Zaria or Yabatech) in Nigeria or a Design school abroad (Ghana has a very good uni for this). I haven't met any graduate of fashion school in Naija who knows much, sadly. Your foundation and technique must be good, because you're competing with the likes of E.A.T, Deola Sagoe, Nouva couture, Jewel by Lisa and co.

Finally, do your research. You should know every designer in the major fashion countried (USA, UK, France, Italy, Japan and Brazil). Then refine your research to those whose work you admire. And when I mean designer, I mean Couture and Ready to Wear, not high street fashion.

I've given you all these hints. Now, it's upto you to find out more, because your determination should make you do all the research in the world , and come back and pepper me with informed questions. Or you can go the Naija route and say "thanks, now tell me which website are you talking about, what's the name of the school, which designer, give me this and that". Which is to say, you expect everything handed to you on a plate, without you doing work.

Good luck, and I hope you surprise me with some great questions

Not bad but a few corrections: face is too wide, lips are too narrow, particularly the bottom lip, nose too wide and there's not enough tonal contrast.

The first thing is to strike an arabesque (the general shape of the face and shadows). Then get the values right and ensure you get the shape of the eyes. Eyes identify a person. Once you get the eyes and shape of the face right, it becomes easier to ignore smaller mistakes, as the resemblance to the figure is still there. HTH www.alizarene..com

We have enough churches. Our people do not suffer from lack of knowing God, we suffer from lack of implementing God's principles. One more mega church won't teach that. Let's use the money to award scholarships and build homes for the elderly and the destitute. People in Lagos live in abandoned train carriages, and consider themselves fortunate, for pete's sake. www.alizarene..com

Actually, visual art is growing in Nigeria. I know a painter who sell for N150,000 per painting and his works are in so much demand, he barely has time for exhibitions. I know another painter (Nigerian) as well, whose paintings go for N2 million at auction, even Ghanaian painters (one sold for $30,000 last year) and Beninese sculptors exhibiting in the UK. Sadly, most of the painters lamenting are street artists or self-taught artists, who can draw decently, but lack so many fundamental skills and cannot create quality work someone wants to own and pay hundreds of thousands for. I felt I was a good painter, but now I'm learning at a studio, I can see the difference. For every 200 untrained artists, only 2 will become great, there are several kids painting in the UK, this boy's selling.

www.alizarene..com

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These are nice, and I know a nigerian-based artist (Isimi Taiwo I believe does photo-realistic drawings, as well as others) who draws like this in Lagos. We're all part of a group on fb, check out the Pencil Push Club there, we organize drawing sessions and talk. www.alizarene..com

centje: Thanks Feraz,whats up with ur digit art...onegai go on with ur opinion...

You need to draw more, that's the basis of good Art. Because there are issues with your use of Perspective, Proportion and Values in your paintings. Also, get some Art books, study Figure Drawing, then do lots of Life drawing, look at Use of Colour, even if you are going to use a heavily stylized form of drawing, let it be grounded in good techniques, abstract artists must be taught Linear and aerial perspective, Colour theory and harmony, Light, Tonal values and more, then they turn to abstraction. Develop your style from there.
The Nigerian Art market is growing and more people are willing to pay for good Art, the worst thing any artist can do is to be okay without a strong foundation.
www.alizarene..com