Today we’d like to introduce you to Obi Arisukwu.
Obi, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born and raised in Houston, TX as a first-generation, Nigerian-American. I began drawing at the age of three because of my extreme fandom for cartoons and superheroes (the Ninja Turtles were my biggest influence). I’ve always loved art, so in college I dropped my computer programming major to pursue my Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Design. Years later, I became the lead graphic designer for ConocoPhillips — a Fortune 100 oil and gas company headquartered here in Houston. However, I never lost my love for illustrating, and focused on creating art when I was away from my 9 to 5 job. Soon I began drawing at my desk more and more each day. I became obsessed with drawing. So in the summer of 2017, I decided to take the leap, and quit my job in order to pursue my passion as a full-time artist creating art for various clientele, and also entertaining the world through my illustrations and cartoons. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I do my initial artwork traditionally with pencil and paper, but then ink and color the art digitally. I love the vibrancy that comes from digitally coloring, so it’s become my go to most of the time.
When I’m not working on children’s books, comic books, and commission art for random clients, I’m creating art that I like and what I believe people will enjoy as well. There’s a lot of awesome things happening in the black community, so I like to showcase that in my art. My work varies from pop culture to icons who have done something incredible/who have inspired me to cartoons and superhero fan art.
I’ve also created a comic strip that I post every Friday on my social media pages. The comic strip parodies real life situations like dating, friendships, politics, etc. Even though I’m the main character in the strips, I’ve taken on the role as the “every man” so that the comic strips is relatable to everyone who reads it. Also, I’m a really goofy person, but I rarely post pictures of myself, so this has become a way of showing my personality through my art. The feedback from it has been phenomenal, so I guess its working lol
At the end of the day, I just want to entertain the world by placing a smile on everyone’s face.
How can artists connect with other artists?
This can be true. A lot of artist seclude themselves from the outside world to focus on their work. I’ve become that person myself. I rarely attend social events nowadays. I couldn’t tell you the last time I went on an actual date. Now, most of the people I talk to are family members, really close friends, and people whose creative minds align with my own.
Some advice — just like in real life, don’t try to force a bond with other artist. When it comes to the few artists I connect with, one group comes from friends who just so happened to get into art as well, so there was already a level of familiarity from the start. The other group comes from social media. With the artists in my “social media” group, we shared a mutual respect for each other’s work; eventually, we began following one another, so it made the connection genuine. Every once in a while, we may message each other for a little advice, but most of the time the communication between us is a “like” or a comment on an art post — that support is all that’s really needed.
And if you can, find you a mentor. My mentor is Rod Thorton, a comic book artist here in the city. He’s friggin’ incredible! He’s taught me a lot things that you can only learn from someone with experience.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The majority of my work and comic strip can be seen on my Instagram – @obiaris
I use Twitter to post my work and work in progress for the art I’m creating – @obiaris
You can check out my portfolio and purchase some of my artwork on my website – www.ObiAris.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ObiAris.com
- Email: obi@obiaris.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/obiaris
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/obiaris
Image Credit:
Greg Noire
(He’s the photographer who took my personal photo)
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