Motladi fulfils his tender age passion for drawing
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday May 7, 2021 15:20
This young artist then decided to pursue his dream of being a fulltime artist. In an interview with Arts & Culture, Motladi said his schoolbook covers were full of cartoons he watched on television. He further stated that his decision to pursue drawing as a profession was inspired by his cousin who was doing his final Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) art project.
“I saw my cousin Tshiamo Motladi drawing his Form Three final art project and it was so inspiring and he was the one who made me, even though I wanted to be a better artist than he was. I then decided to do art at Boswelakgosi Junior School from 2011 to 2013. I continued doing art Kagiso Senior School from 2014 to 2015. I have been drawing since, using pencils and charcoal,” he said.
Furthermore, he explained that people showed him support and really loved his work. He added that their support pushed him to continue drawing. He also said many of his clients wanted him to draw their portraits. He also added that he did not sell his artworks, as all of them were portraits for clients.
The challenges he said he faced include taking too long to complete his artworks. He explained that in most cases he took a week to produce his artwork and sometimes failing to deliver on time due to limited resources. However, he stated that he wanted to see himself growing bigger and gaining recognition. The young artist said he continued focusing on drawing last year after he completed his Form Five.
“My advice to other artists out there is to erase their mentality of giving up because that is a special talent and it was given to them for a reason. Everything is a worthy patience, I had those moments where I really got frustrated drawing e pala go nna mo seemong se neng ke se batlang but I told myself that I could do this! I did it so let’s work hard majita,” he said.
He said he markets his arts through social media platforms such as Facebook at Ray Foxx Montego and @Ray’sArt, on Twitter and @art_by_yay on Instagram.