By Adefoyeke Ajao

Do you often wonder if you would have been a more skilful artist if you had received art lessons when you were much younger? You might be thinking it’s too late for you to develop any artistic talent, but you are wrong as Art635, the largest online repository of African art is offering free art classes to children, aged 8 and above, and young adults who are keen on developing artistic talent.

The first week of the workshop, held on 17th and 18th of August, 2018, at the Art635 Hub in Yaba, focused on improving the participants’ drawing and sketching skills. While the first day (17th) catered to children, adults were hosted on the second day (18th). Each participant was equipped with Art635-branded sketch pads and stationery, so they didn’t have to bring any tools to the workshop.

Under the tutelage of artists Joshua Egesi and Ohwofasa Egbedi, participants were introduced to the fundamentals of drawing. The tasks included drawing basic human body parts such as the face and hands and later, advanced figure drawing which involved drawing characters that were in motion, as well as using a variety of basic shapes to recreate the human form.

Egesi and Egbedi’s teaching methods made drawing very easy and relatable. They simplified art techniques and principles while paying rapt attention to each participant’s artistic abilities and limitations and each person got tasks that were commensurate with their abilities.

One of the participants, Anthony Ajiboye, an aspiring artist, who saw the promotional fliers online, attended the workshop because he “felt it was going to impact more on his skills”. While another participant, Michael Adebimpe commended GTBank for organising the workshop, because it will help to identify and develop young artistic talent. He said, “It’s better to discover yourself and your talent at an early age. As a beginner, you have to struggle to sort yourself out sometimes, and meeting experienced artists who can teach you personally makes you a better artist”.

The workshop was an equally invigorating experience for the children who participated. At the end of the class, one of them walked up to Egesi and asked, “Uncle, are you coming tomorrow?”

*The Art635 summer art workshops will hold every Friday and Saturday between 17th August 2018 and September 8th, 2018 at the Art635 Hub, located within the Herbert Macaulay Library in Yaba. The second workshop, which will hold on 24th & 25th of August at the same venue, will focus on photography portfolio review & shirt painting.*