Walking into his house that doubles as a workspace, Delice Dushimimana Sugira seems carried away in his drawing. His attention is drawn to what he is doing, which he later calls ‘communicating with his art’, in a language that he alone can understand.

The way he gently sketches with his black pen, yet assuredly, is unexplainable. He was indeed born for this.

In an interview with the 19-year-old graphic artist, he explains how his father’s support inspired him to draw.

At a tender age, Sugira loved drawing anything nice that his eyes fell across—from flowers, cars, to human-beings in action.

While in primary two, he often attended art competitions. For him, there was never a dull moment with a pencil, paper, and surrounded by nature.

Delice Dushimimana Sugira, a 19-year-old graphic artist. Photo: Courtesy

In 2018, he gave pen art a shot, although this was a bit challenging for him, because in case of any mistakes, he couldn’t erase, but repeated the whole drawing.

True to the common adage, "practice makes perfect”, he is now past making errors as he has perfected his craft with time.

When asked why he focused on pen art, the youngster responded that it is because he values long-term products, unlike the pencil art that can be erased or lose its quality with time. In his view, he notes, clients value pen art more compared to pencil art.

His drawing skills, he also mentions, were also made better by an art course that he pursued at Ecole d’art de Nyundo, where he graduated in 2019.

Sugira’s graphic art comprises drawings, computer-aided designing, painting, and so forth. With drawing, he bases on creativity and uniqueness in his style as he is bored by the obvious.

The only challenge he says he has, is that his work is so real that people are not easily convinced that he uses his real hands to draw. Some argue that he uses phone applications, not until he shows them the videos of him drawing.  

The pen artist adds that on average, he spends about five hours to complete a picture on an A3 paper, and three hours on an A4 paper.

Earlier this year, he decided to turn his talent into business to earn a living. So far, the support from the public is fair as he has started getting clients. His prices range from Rwf15, 000 for A4, to Rwf25, 000 for A3. However, prices can increase, depending on the client’s order.

"My talent has given me more opportunities and I have been appreciated by international stars like Ykee Benda, Eddy Kenzo, Brain Jotter and Rwandan celebrities such as Tom Close, Clapton, Arthur Nkusi, Paty Cope, Axel Rugangura, among others.

"The gratitude often comes in form of money, encouraging messages and sharing my artwork on social media, thus gaining publicity and new clients—this warms my heart,” Sugira says.

He, however, urges parents to support their children whenever they discover something unique about them. Whether, music, art, drama, or sports because if such talents are not groomed, they might be wasted, saying that if his father didn’t bring to light his talent, maybe he wouldn’t be where he is now.

Inspiration and future goals 

Dushimimana is inspired by German artist, Mike Dargas, who won numerous awards and divisions on the tattoo scene and attracted attention worldwide. Through his quick distribution of his works through social media, he eagerly shared his enthusiasm for perfecting painting techniques.

He looks up to Dargas because he started making paintings with oil paint from a very young age, and since he got a chance to study art subjects with enormous intensity, he gave each painted portrait an intense and intimate closeness. 

According to Dushimimana, Dargas’ art is unique in a way that it focuses on understanding the nature of humanity and in turn, questions one’s own emotional perception.

The youngster is looking forward to offering a course in architecture at university as his dream is to express his art as an architect.

That way, he believes he will be able to make more money as ‘ordinary art doesn’t pay very well’ compared to architecture.

Architecture is considered an art form that reflects how we present ourselves across the earth’s landscape, and, like other expressive mediums, it changes with styles, technologies, and cultural adaptations.

To him, focusing on architecture will enable him stay focused and not lose what he loves doing most, as he has no doubt that he will earn from it.

 He is, however, disappointed that young potential artists have even given up on drawing and painting as they lack financial support.