Nigerian artist, Oscar Ukonu, has been doing realistic pen drawings for over 5 years

Hyperrealist Artist Oscar Ukonu

He specializes in extremely detailed portraits which seem like photos passed through a blue filter rather than mere drawings. He uses his drawings as powerful pieces of social critique, as well as portraying influential people of Africa and pop culture icons. In other words, he puts his skills to good use.

He has been drawing all his life. His hyper-realistic skills were developed when he was in architecture school. During his time at school, he did a lot of pencil-based drawings but began to experiment with ink to develop his own art style.

“From my experience at architecture school, I thought I could find something that writes better than the ink pens I used. So I spent a lot of time looking at different mediums and drawing tools. But the first time I tried the ballpoint pen that was in 2014, and it just clicked…” Oscar said.

In a blue color hold a special significance for him. “It is mostly about the mood that I want my works to exude. Most of the moods I like to set up in my works are associated with this cool color, plus it’s one of the original ballpoint colors. In the current series of works I’m working on, that’s the kind of mood I’m trying to express.”

He explains why he mainly works feature people. “My work is mainly influenced by my personal and cultural experiences of living here in Africa. So most of the subjects in my work are friends or family and sometimes strangers. I have them come to the studio for a photoshoot where I interact with them and find out what type of person they are to decide what the best way to express it is. Other times when I meet certain people, I leave the studio and meet them in their own environment where they are more comfortable.”

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