Realistic artist dreams BIG

‘MAKERESEMESE LETUKA

MASERU- “Life is art, live yours in colour” these are words that have inspired Sibusiso Khohlokoane to display his gift through pencil and paper. Popularly known as Budah, the self-taught realistic drawing artist started doing it professionally in 2020 – doing it for love at first before turning it into a career.

The great passion he says came when he came across a few professional drawing artists on social media. “I was inspired and that is when I realized that I can actually make a living through drawing, so ever since that time I’ve been pushing myself passionately, towards making this a success. “I am a creator, an artist and of course a professional drawing artist because I don’t just do it for love, I also do it as a business, it’s my career.

“As I mentioned earlier, I started doing art professionally in May 2020. I specialize in realistic drawing with pencils (both charcoals and graphites). I fell in love with this mediums because they’re the first mediums that I ever used from the time I started learning how to draw. So I found myself really good at using them. I also use pens, blending stumps, kneadable erasers, make up brushes, ear buds etc, to help me make realistic arts. My unique strengths include being able to create realistic textures, which is one of the things most drawing artist fail to do. So I found myself really good at it,” he says.

As an artist he adds that with the type of art that he creates, he is inspired by quite alot of things. “I am inspired by other successful artists that do the type of art I do. These includes a young creator from South Africa, Oskar Ukunu. One thing that inspires me is my previous work, I always feel like doing new drawing each time after finishing the work. I draw more when I’m kinda down because at that moment, I feel like drawing is my last resort, the only thing that can hype me up,” he adds.

Budah says his target market is people with high profiles – celebrities, politicians, influencers, etc. “The truth is that, people in our country don’t value art like people in other countries, but with the prices that I charge, the sales are good and there’s hope for the best as time goes,” he hopes. The market for drawing artists is big and orders from as far afield as South Africa.

Budah has drawn up portraits of His Majesty, former and the current prime ministers among the many. He also boast of drawings of South African celebrities the likes of Areece, Miss Pru, Madumane, Judy Jay, Da Capo etc. The list is endless and he says he wants to do more. Proud of his work he adds, “being able to make my own income is my biggest achievement”. Budah has his eyes set for the the Mebala Art Exhibition pencilled for December this year.