Innocent Mugisha’s artistic journey is a good case study on the importance of career guidance in nurturing young talent.

Better known as Afande, his artistic moniker, he is an artist, illustrator, designer, and cartoonist, going by the work he does at Ibitekerezo Digital Arts Studio in Kabeza, Kigali, his brainchild.

VIDEO: Meet Young Visual Artist Mugisha aka Afande. Source: YouTube/TheNewTimes

Afande created the studio early last year, and there, he produces illustration art works that are used in educational books, paintings, graphic design, creating artistic logos, and photography.

When I visited the studio on Wednesday afternoon, he revealed that not only is he an artist, illustrator, designer and cartoonist, but also a "singer, drummer, story-teller, writer, comedian, and actor”.

"I combine all these things in illustration art,” he quipped. He also revealed that this year, the studio will be venturing into animation cartoons as well. He believes that this is one untapped avenue through which young Rwandans can express themselves and tell the country’s stories both local and abroad.

But we know the Swahili word "Afande” as a respectful or formal title of honor used by a soldier to address his superior.

I ask him if he is by any chance into the military and his response is to the contrary:

"I’ve been called that name since I was a little guy. As a child I used to throw tantrums a lot. I want this, I want that. One day my uncle came and said "this boy likes making commands, and so they started calling me Afande.

Started in school

He was born in 1995, and attended Rwembogo Primary School where he started drawing in Primary One.

"I would pick a book and sheet of paper and start drawing and building a story. My classmates liked it.

One of those classmates was a neighbor to a prominent politician. One day this classmate took those stories to this politician, who in turn gave her Rwf500 for it which we used to buy chewing gum because we were young.”

In P4 he participated in a competition named One Laptop Per Child, illustrating stories about the computers for primary school-goers. His photo story was selected the best and he won a cash prize of Rwf 90,000. That was in 2001.

By the following year, in P5, he had already made up his mind on a career path in fine art.

"One day the Maths teacher was teaching on the blackboard and I was drawing. He came and looked at my work, then afterwards he told me I could go and study art professionally at Nyundo School of Art. That very moment I made up my mind that I was going to Nyundo.”

For his O-Levels, he attended Gitwe Adventist College. Again, one fateful day, the school head teacher caught him at what he did best – drawing.

"He took the book and read the story and right away he called my father to inform him that I was drawing some interesting things. I was in Senior One. The headmaster took that story and gave me Rwf20.000!”

In S4, he took part in yet another competition called Kwibuka Art Competition and emerged best at his school. He extended his winning streak to the district level, and ultimately the national level.

"My drawing was used in remembrance activities both locally and abroad,” he recounts proudly.

"That drawing helped me discover that even young people like us can use our talents to tell our stories so we do not have to listen to those lies from abroad. The National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG) had organized that competition.

"I felt so proud knowing I was a young Rwandan of just 18 years at the time.”

Joining art school

Afande’s dream to join Nyundo Art School finally came to fruition after completing his O-Levels. He spent two and a half years there.

From Nyundo, he joined another art school, the Kigali International College in Remera, where he took a six months training "not just in art, but also how you can make money from it”.

"After that I went to work briefly with a company called Inkstain and it’s from that experience I realized I could also start something of my own. I approached the Business Development Authority and they wrote down my project and did different things just to make things work.”

About the impact of art school in his artistic development he says;

"You go to art school when you’re already talented. You don’t go there to learn art from zero. What they do is to sharpen the talent you already have and make you professional. That is what happened to me at Nyundo.”

He reckons that it’s at the Kigali International School that he became a complete artist;

"What I gained from there is that they don’t just teach you art, but also the business aspect of it –how to make money from it. That is the difference between Kigali International School and Nyundo School of Art. At Nyundo they sharpen you as an artist, then they let go.”

At Ibitekerezo Digital Arts Studio you will find him working alone, or with a team, depending on the nature of the assignment.

"When I have a big project I invite some guys and we work together after which I pay them. This year I’m planning to engage people who I can pay monthly.”

A look at some of his works hanging from the studio walls and on his laptop reveals that the artiste is obsessed with themes that have national appeal;

Some of the more prominent illustrations and cartoons cover subjects as diverse as Caguwa (second-hand clothes), football, Kwita Izina (annual gorilla naming ceremony), Miss Rwanda beauty pageant and dress code, among others.

A cartoon he developed during last year’s CHAN football tournament in Rwanda quickly went viral, and hangs prominently from the wall;

In it, a footballer is scoring into the opponent’s empty goal as the goalkeeper at the back of the net uses a pair of binoculars to scan the stadium for the famed beauties from the land of a thousand hills.

But even more dear to him is a portrait of Defense Minister James Kabarebe which he keeps promising to show me. He even had his young brother video-tape the entire painting session.

"He (Kabarebe) likes the youth. We always see him talking to the youth, supporting things like sport. He’s a cool general and I love him.”

For inspiration he looks to two people;

"First, I compare myself to a guy called Walt Disney (pioneer in the American animation industry). The way he started is a little bit similar to the way I started too. I started when things were hard and the people that I started with run away and abandoned me.

Secondly is my President Paul Kagame because he is one man who is encouraging young people like us. He’s always telling us to believe in ourselves and to use our talents.

I love my president so much and my dream is to meet him one day and I believe that day will come.”

This year, he intends to focus on Rwandan culture in his works, "so that even when someone from abroad sees it, he knows automatically that it’s from Rwanda. I also intend to stage workshops with some foreign-based Rwandan artists like Ngumire Jean Claude, a Rwandan artist who owns a studio in the Netherlands called Keza Studio. He was here at last year’s Umushyikirano (National Dialogue) and made a presentation and we shared some ideas.

I also want to develop this studio further into a hub where I can even bring in street kids to learn art, especially digital art. I just want this studio to be productive to my country and also to myself.”