I caught up with young, up-and-coming illustrator Nokwanda Themba to chat about her work and her vision for the future.
“I’m studying a BSc in Human Physiology. But I have been drawing since I was a child,” Nokwanda explained when asked about how her journey as a freelance illustrator began. Having always had an interest in art and not having any formal training in any kind of visual discipline, she took it upon herself to allow her enthusiasm for drawing to blossom by teaching herself various techniques and experimenting with different mediums. Working consistently at trying to refine her skills, the evolution of her work took off when she started working with fine point pens. From this point she could see herself growing into her illustrator boots and developing her own style.
Nokwanda draws inspiration from a wide range of illustrators and artists. Itumeleng Kunene whose fine liner work and focus on women has had a large influence on the way Nokwanda depicts the focal subjects in most her work; women. Nokwanda describes herself as a Womanist, “[meaning embracing] all kinds of femininity and just loving women,” she explained. Nokwanda has also gained the confidence to expand the range of her work by looking at the watercolour work of Ojo, the heroine within her pool of illustrators and artists from whom she draws inspiration. Nokwanda’s recent experimentation with watercolours combined with her fine liner work has added texture and depth to her illustrations. This is not the first time she has tried to include a different dimension to her work. Nokwanda has also experimented with creating collages, taking direction from illustrators who have tried collage work in their own practices.
Nokwanda describes her illustrations as a reflection of her personality. “My work is whimsical, quirky. It’s got a lotta life!” she exclaimed. The similarities between her and her work became quite clear when her giggles and cute comments during our conversation reminded me of the squiggles and playful style of her illustrations. These fun doodles often surround the protagonists of her work; women of colour who wear their hair as crowns.
Being a young illustrator who has stepped in from outside of creative circles as well as being a woman of colour, Nokwanda has found that not being taken seriously at times and being overlooked has been a challenge she has had to face. However, she continues to carve out a space for herself through her commission work, growing her online following and being part of exhibitions such as The Roof Top Exhibition hosted by SA Creatives last year.
Nokwanda dreams of getting into design and one day creating what she described as “a Typo for brown girls”. Keep up-to-date with her work by checking out her on Behance and Instagram.
