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Today we’d like to introduce you to Theodore Sovor.
Hi Theodore, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m 26 and a digital creator by profession. I wasn’t born in Atlanta or any city close to Atlanta but outside the United States. I grew up in Goaso, a city in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana.
Growing up, I was always connected to art which came from my love of nature and it’s own wonderful art. My career started in high school when I majored Visual art as my programme of study. After each semester, I will practice what we were taught traditionally on my home computer with software such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw. I learnt how to create vector art, photo manipulations and other graphic designs from tutorials I watched on YouTube whenever we came down on vacation. I completed high school with grade A in graphic design, sculpture and other visual art-related subjects. With the support of my parents, I continued my career into college after been admitted into the publishing studies department. Although this wasn’t the programme I wanted from the start, I still jumped on the bus. At tertiary is where my creative life took a detour.
Growing up, I’ve always suffered from a high state of depression which allows me to stay alienated from a lot of social activities and gatherings. I found it hard to express myself in any kind of way. As a matter of fact, the only way I could reach out to my outer world was through art. During college that’s after first year to be precise, my love for music and other unlawful activities like night clubbing led me into the habit of smoking cannabis. To me, it began to feel like a way of getting me away from all the fearful and discouraging thoughts that kept me antisocial. As I kept on in the act, it also took me gradually away from my main goal in school. I started skipping lectures and missing out on assignments. I could gradually feel myself getting lost in the habit I have picked up but one thing I never lost was my passion to create digital artwork out of my imagination and thoughts. The more I smoked, the more I created. At that time, I designed artwork for my friends who were into music and in need of music cover artwork. I was also in a music awards media group where I served as their graphic designer.
In my third year of college education, I started feeling no desire for school anymore. I said to myself, “I have found my passion and what I want to do for the rest of my life so why do I need school” funny right? But yeah, that’s what I thought because my love for school was becoming less than my love for the type of art I really wanted to create. Only if I had thought of the advantages I could also have as a degree holder maybe I would have made a different choice but no I didn’t. I dropped out of school before the second semester of the third year and continued with my passion.
As at this time, no one including my family knew of my choices. I was in a music group known as (young survivors empire) and my role was graphic design. In this music group is where I discovered a new talent in music. I’ve never tried to write music before or maybe once I did and failed but this time, I could really feel music flowing in and out of me every time. As I worked on my ideas on my computer the work flow created a rhythm in my mind. In 2018 I started blending music with my primary passion “digital art” and recorded my first single with Thubani Muzik, one of the most renowned producers in Ghana. I wish I could keep this shorter but I will try to cut short the rest.
After recording my first single mixtape a lot began to change around me. The friends I hanged with bagan to change on me in a very strange way. I could smell a lot of jealousy and envy around them, something that might have been there before but now coming to my realization. We lived like a family and planned like a team but it started becoming obvious I was on a wrong bus. My closest friend I shared a roof with and even designed artwork for and I caught a disagreement which rose up to the extend that he hit me with a student chair out of extreme rage. He entered my mind and weakened me consciously by continually repeating to me a lot of things that was meant to break my ability in what I can do and what I have discovered. I suffered a great deal of trauma at that time which caused a migraine I can still feel as I type. It is up until these recent days that my intuition has led me to understand what happened at that time but I don’t only blame my friends I blame myself too for not holding on to my consciousness strong enough.
At the end of 2018, I came back home a broken bandit and a college dropout. I told my family about what choices I made and the consequences they’ve given birth to. I broke my parent’s hearts not the first time and in their love for me, they agreed to enroll me in a different school this time not for a degree certificate but a diploma. I joined IPMC in April 2019 and completed in May 2021 with an A in graphics and website design. I held on to my passion in art and my newly discovered ability in music.
In 2022, I designed three artworks for different customers in the United States and I won an award in the capital city of the country (Accra) organized by one of the most renowned award media (Global Movies and Influential Awards) as the discovery graphic designer of the year. I have entered the world of NFT’s with my own unique style of creativity (Things you don’t see every day) and WIDEYE NFT. I have started my own YouTube channel where I showcase my creative process as tutorials for beginners with the passion of digital art.
Adding to that, on the other side of my newly found creative ability (music). I have written and recorded three music albums plus singles which are currently available on audiomac.com and a few others on apple music.
Casting back after all this incidents, I realized that they all happened to me not to ruin but to build me into the man I was born to become. I’ve grown stronger than my depression, fears and doubts, I have built strong confidence in myself and my art and I am in more control of my conscious mind than ever before.
My name is Sovor Theodore and this is a short summary of my creative life. Visit my art portfolios to check out the stuff I create on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok (@sovorart).
Thank you.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, I’ve had to rise from a weaker version of myself to a high-level mindset and I see it clearly in my creativity now as compared to before. I’ve not always been such a confident creator/ person but some events that happened to me have gave me the reason to rise above my subconscious limitations. I had to rise out of negativity, rejection, fear, doubt, indecisiveness and depression. I’ve struggled in terms of the right creative resources (Computers) which can help me give out more than I do now. But as I go along the road I always find a way out of these challenges still hoping to find the support I need to take my creativity to the next level.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Generally, I’m into all kinds of graphic designing but I specialize in music cover artwork creation, digital illustration and photo manipulation which I list for sale as NFTs. I’ve built a gallery of amazing digital artworks with my own creative formulae. I use abandoned places and cars, images of school kids that suffer isolation like myself in my past years, animals and robotics to create my artwork. This formulae I have built up myself and from some of the works of my mentors.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters to me most is maintaining my own unique style of creativity in both of my talents and ever perfecting them for as long as I can to stand out from the crowd. This matters to me because I realize until your artwork can be identified by your own creative style or formulae you’re always going to be lost in the crowd and your art may have no value at all. Another reason why this matters to me most is because I want to grow in my career to see what becomes of my art and my unique creative style at its peak. I want to realize the true power behind my ideas.
Pricing:
- Music Cover artworks $30 – $120
- Logo for business brands – $50 – $100
- Digital Illustration for any purpose – $100
- Magazine Cover design/ Event flyer – $50
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfd8hMWt18w/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sovorartndesign?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sovorart?t=Q3h3ICvSmHwE66s5ZM7NCg&s=09
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mhylanmusic
- Other: https://audiomack.com/mhylan-music
