Although Rwanda is blessed with many artists, digital art isn’t as displayed as traditional art, however, many artists are practicing it, like Johnson Habarugira, a digital illustrator who finds this type of art easy to do and learn.
Digital art is artistic work that uses technology as part of the creative process, such as drawing tablets and computer software.
With painting software, he can draw or illustrate anything that comes to mind. The artist says he doesn’t worry about making mistakes because even if he fails to draw a neat line, or paints the wrong way, he can revert the changes, and can even change the overall composition. No matter how many times he erases, the digital canvas stays clean.
The 21-year-old explains that digital art is very cost-efficient in the long run. He doesn’t have to continuously buy drawing equipment such as pencils, ink pens, paints, and so forth, as he doesn’t need them, and they are expensive because traditional artists have to keep buying them.
"I wouldn’t say that digital art is cheap, although the original cost is expensive, you rarely need to replace items,” he says.
Habarugira says that unlike other kinds of art, such as painting that leaves the whole room messy with colour, digital art is easy, all you need to do is save and shut down your computer.
According to him, digital illustration allows an artist to edit their work easily, for instance, they can add any colour they wish, whether bright and dark, just with the click of a mouse.
"Digital art gives me accessibility to a number of tools. I can use all kinds of brushes to paint, a thing that pushes my imagination to broaden and be creative. I also have all the colours I need yet I do not pay for them,” he says.
Habarugira points out that digital art saves space because it only takes up hard drive space, yet with cloud storage technologies, there is limitless space out there for you to create as you wish. However, with traditional art, with time, portraits and all paintings start compiling.
He adds that with digital art, you save time since all the tools you want to use are available and the beauty about it is that you don’t need extra editing for online publishing. It can’t be affected by other factors that easily ruin other art.
"You can create a variety with digital art as there are so many different kinds of brushes and functions that it would take you forever to try them all. Its originality isn’t lost because digital art creation is already kept on a digital device, which is easier for artists to share their work in its high quality,” the artist states.
Habarugira developed a passion for drawing at a young age. In 2013, he emerged the second winner in the country during a drawing competition on stories against corruption. His win pushed him to believe in himself and push forward, he hasn’t regretted the path he chose.
He took online courses at Domestika (a community of creatives) to improve his talent. He has showcased some of his work in three art exhibitions from 2018 to 2019.
Although the journey is still tough because many people in the region don’t understand digital art, he is optimistic that one day he will be among the most famous artists in the country. He also has hopes of going global.
Besides being a digital artist, the youngster is a web developer, motion artist, and graphics designer. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology at the University of Rwanda-Huye.
He looks forward to opening up a digital art company after he graduates. His role models are Swedish- based photographer and visual artist, Erik Johansson, as his art is aimed to be real, provide solutions to problems, and find a way to capture the impossible, and Rwandan artist Micah Hirwa whose creativity goes beyond words.