Today we’d like to introduce you to Thando Kubheka.
Hi Thando, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Thando Kubheka (@seaweedsword). I am a 24 (born 1998) years old aspiring Illustrator/Digital Designer. I was born eZola Clinic, Soweto and had been moving around ever since. I’m currently based in Alberton. I’m a graduate of Vega Bordeaux with a Bachelor Of Arts in Digital Design.
My work serves as a symbol of my underlying subconscious activities or dialogues, the truest expression of what I’m really feeling, either at the time or just in general. I pay a lot of attention to the facial expressions of the reference images I pick because that’s sort of like the window that directly portrays how I’m feeling to the viewer. So, I personally think this tiny voice I’ve been given I use encourages people to live an authentic life. I would like to encourage more creatives like me to trust and believe in themselves more, myself included. And in the words of Tyler The Creator himself “Whatever brings you that immense joy, do that, that’s your luxury”. Because, it does get dark, and even there, you have to show people what you really feel and communicate that using whatever you use as a medium, just be honest and authentic with your audience because they are people just like you.
Creativity has always been the one thing that constantly kept me moving forward. I was very inquisitive as a kid growing up, this habit of always asking and wanting to know later bred me into being a person who always seeked out new ventures to start. I love trying new things, mostly because it’s always been a way to keep my imagination alive. Illustration came about to me when I was in university. I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but I never knew how or what kind of an artist.
I had started a clothing brand back in high school with my friends, which later turned into my brand. I would do all the graphics and printing for it which I enjoyed doing and that was my first clue. Early university I decided to discontinue the brand and solely venture into making digital art. This transition was a result of the general course I did in my first year which was a Higher Certificate in Art and Design. In the course, we explored a lot of the stuff I did in Visual Art back in High School. It was a lot in-depth this time which got me doing a lot of drawing. Then during the year as I was doing the course, right before I decided that illustration was something I really wanted to do. I came across this well-known artist in Johannesburg called African Ginger (Seth Pimental) and I was so inspired by what he does that it confirmed the path I now wanted to take.
I went to researching about being an illustrator and what happens in this profession and that was it in a nutshell.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
From the top of my head, Financial issues were and still one of my main struggles, it was even kind of worse back then when could not even afford to purchase any equipment that I needed such as a drawing tablet, Ipad, Drawing Pen, etc. I could only work on my phone of which I really did not complain because I learned so much just from that experience alone.
Other times I would be needing money to travel to a non-paying event to be able to promote myself, as well as print works to display and sell. My only solution at the time was to start a clothing brand that allowed me to simultaneously make money to fund most of my expenses and do what I liked to do, make art/graphics for the clothing. It was kind of e best of both worlds.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
By Profession, I’m a Digital Designer, I specialize mainly in motion graphics and video. Right now, I’d say it’s not much but the fact that I have not given up on wanting to be a recognized illustrator one day makes me very proud of myself. I never know how to answer that question, because I don’t know on what terms that are set would I consider myself different from others, nothing besides the fact that I’m the only me in this world sets me apart.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I’m very observant, I’m very calculated except for when I’m not, I’m also very accommodative to people in general, please confuse that with friendly and I’m intuitive, yet logical.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://casualsex.store/pages/all-artist-stores/seaweedsword
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seaweedsword/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seaweedsword/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/seaweedsword
