Passionate about drawing at an early age, gifted 16-year-old artist, Gideon Daramola, finds pleasure in drawing portraits. His artistic taste and inspiration have transformed as he develops an interest in drawing the complexity of the human face.
“I started drawing when I was a kid. I drew cartoons, superheroes and mostly comics. I started drawing portraits like a year ago,” said Daramola. “I decided to start drawing portraits when I begin to analyze the complex details in human faces and how I could use different techniques to create a copy of that face on a paper.”
Daramola told The Baltimore Times that his art techniques have been improving over the years as he continues to enlarge his circle of learning and sharpened his realistic drawing.
“When drawing a human face, the highlights and the features on the face capture my attention,” said Daramola.
Daramola utilized graphite pencils to draw pictures until he found out about charcoal/graphite powders. When drawing, Daramola starts with a sketch then he develops the skin with various layers and grades of ground graphite/charcoal powder. His best part are the highlights on the face, which makes the drawing more realistic.
“My drawings are mostly realistic but I’m trying to make them look more hyper-realistic as time goes by, my favorite drawing is the one of Mayor Brandon Scott,” said Daramola.
Daramola has two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. His mother Gbemisola Daramola thinks he is “reserved and talented.” “Gideon’s passion and creativity for drawing was evident since childhood, I am really interested in his drawing especially when he draws my portrait, which I proudly share with my friends,” said the mother.
Andrew Hoffmann, a production editor at Weatherwise magazine, and a member of The Philadelphia Cartoonist Society was impressed with Daramola’s illustrations and his ability to emphasize details in his portraits.
“These works clearly show a lot of skill. This artist is adept at a variety of techniques and has a solid knowledge of human anatomy, learning the techniques involved in conveying realistic images accurately is a lifetime pursuit for an artist and this artist is off to a great start,” said Hoffmann.
“Outside of continuing that study, the best advice I can offer is to just keep on doing it, the only fair way for an artist to judge his or her own work is to compare it to itself. If the art you do today looks better than the art you did a year ago, you’ll know you’re on the right path,” added Hoffmann.
Daramola loves to see the joy and happiness on people’s faces when they see his artwork. He is always striving to be better in every piece of art that he makes. He aspires to be as good as his favorite artists such as Kelvin Okafor; Arinze Stanley; and Fatola Israel (Heavenly Artz). His dream is to see one of his artworks in a museum one day.
Daramola’s dream is to become be a full-time artist and an aeronautical engineer.
