Nigerian artist, age 11, creates incredible hyperreal portraits

https://boingboing.net/2018/07/16/nigerian-artist-age-11-creat.html

by dosy • 8 years ago

48 57 8 years ago

drcode4• 8 years ago

I hate to be all jaded about things, but this is the second story I've seen on this boy, and I feel like he falls under the "extraordinary claims require extraordinarily evidence" umbrella.

These are charcoal-based sketches, and for that style of art a majority of the artistry lies in image choice and finishing detail of the sketch (and a little bit in the presketch, though that's trainable if he's using a reference image.)

I would like to have better evidence that these parts weren't just done by an adult, because without it, this boy is arguably a once-in-generation genius, and that is an extraordinary claim.

djsumdog• 8 years ago

Hmm.. The video doesn't seems to show him in process. Stephen Wiltshire has several time-lapses and videos of him in various stages of the drawing process. Maybe we'll get a reporter that records a time lapse at some point, or maybe not if it's really the work of an adult.

akuji19932• 8 years ago

I know it's not always Occam's razor, but in this case I tend to be the party pooper. This was probably drawn by an adult and now they try to make it a story. There are amazing young artists out there, but this kind of detail, the boy either learned how to draw one or two specific pictures again and again or somebody has helped with this.

I might also be wrong and we've seen the next art child prodigy, but I doubt it.

drcode4• 8 years ago

Yeah, a timelapse of his full process would be appropriate evidence here. If one exists and someone could share a link that would be great.

ainiriand• 8 years ago

Take this with a grain of salt. But I have a friend that is a very bright artist since she was a child. Not this level of skill, but really really close with the chalks. I say that it is 'possible' but unlikely.

throwawayqdhd2• 8 years ago

Mozart was writing symphonies by this age. Prodigies exist in every field.

Is there a geographical bias in your skepticism? Would you be as skeptical if this kid was from Norway or Sweden or Austria?

xtrapolate• 8 years ago

"Is there a geographical bias in your skepticism? Would you be as skeptical if this kid was from Norway or Sweden or Austria?"

Nothing in the parent comment implies a so-called "geographical bias", yet there you are accusing them of being racist.

ihsw2• 8 years ago

There's nothing wrong with having a geographic bias in skepticism, Nigeria is not a historical source of innovation.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, if anything it elevates this boy's achievements even more and puts his talents in the realm of once-in-a-thousand-generations.

frockington• 8 years ago

Prodigies exist in every field As proof you mentioned Mozart who two centuries ago in Europe. I am skeptical on a geographical and time level based on your evidence

drcode4• 8 years ago

What a horrible comment... I hope you're just having a bad morning and will feel guilty about it after you've had your morning coffee :-)

nkrisc• 8 years ago

Would you be as skeptical if this kid was from Norway or Sweden or Austria?

Yes, I would be. I'm sure many people would still be skeptical.

ramblerman• 8 years ago

He draw Macron as well, recently, under quite a bit of media scrutiny: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/04/africa/nigerian-boy-paint...

coldtea7• 8 years ago

I would like to have better evidence that these parts weren't just done by an adult, because without it, this boy is arguably a once-in-generation genius, and that is an extraordinary claim.

Hardly. Such photorealistic portraits are impressive, and very impressive for a 13 yo boy, but nothing "extraordinary" to achieve, and much less a sign of an "once-in-generation genius".

The right technique, many hours devotion, and starting from around 6 would get similar results to most kids -- like tons of kids at 13 can play Chopin on the piano, and are not "once-in-generation geniuses", but run of the mill tiger-mom kids...

protonimitate• 8 years ago

Agreed. Hyper-realism, while impressive to look at, is not really all that difficult to achieve mechanically (relatively, of course).

Even if the finishing wasn't done by an adult, I don't think it's the mark of genius. Artistic genius is about synthesizing multiple styles and histories and creating something novel, or re-presenting something old and tired in a new way.

If this is the sole work of the kid, he has a great eye and fantastic mechanical abilities - but 'once in a lifetime genius' may be overselling it just a bit.

Throwaway9819202• 8 years ago

Agreed. When it comes to hyper-realism, they draw a grid over the source material, and the canvas. It's not tracing, but it's a way of scaling and recreating the proportions of an image very accurately. You can see the grids in the below photos from him, and some others at the same studio.

https://scontent-frt3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/500067e25f25f208...

https://scontent-frt3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/f5a832fa32f0fef2...

https://scontent-frt3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/30551f3410feac03...

https://scontent-frt3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/ee5c9ffc77f60e92...

Now, look at the work from this 11 year old when he draws a live person.

https://scontent-frt3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/15e2a787bc8a92a6...

Don't get me wrong, he's talented, and it's clear he has spent a lot of time practicing. The below video shows him sketching a life drawing of a woman, and I think it's better than most could achieve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQeNBCJt8-Y

When I was a kid, I tried to do similar things. I remember recreating photographs with pencil. I did a lot of measurements. For example, my drawing would be 10:1 scale compared to the source. So I'd measure the distance between the pupils, and mark them on the paper. Then I'd measure the source material for the distance from the left and right pupils to the right corner of the mouth, scale the measurements accordingly, and mark a dot for that position. In the end, I would get something similar to his below drawing, where it looked pretty realistic, but a little wonky.

https://scontent-frt3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/e9bea443e7e0fe8b...

I was probably 13 at the time. Now, I'm a terrible artist. I probably spent hundreds of hours in life drawing classes in my late teens, and I was one of the worst people in my classes. If you give me a pencil and ask me to draw a person from my mind, or a person in front of me, I think I would do as good as the average person or worse. But, if you give me a photograph and time, I can do an accurate job at recreating it. I don't think it's much talent though, in my case it's more patience, and paying attention to small details.

In short, I think he's skilled at copying photographs, and shows a lot of technical promise at his age. That doesn't make him a genius artist though. Who knows though, maybe he'll get to that point.

hugh4life• 8 years ago

Check out his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waspa_art/

enriquto• 8 years ago

You can achieve similarly striking paintings by projecting a very cool photograph into paper and then painting it over the projection. I remember as a kid when my father brought a projector for the weekend, and my sister and me spend the time copying photographs this way. It helps to project the image upside down, so you can focus better in the colors than in the 3d structures.

fredley• 8 years ago

Before electronic (or even electric) projectors were around, professional artists were using device called a camera obscura[1] with similar results (though obviously dependent on natural illumination).

There is much debate over whether great painters such as Vermeer used a camera obscura as early as the 17th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura#1650_to_1800:_I...

teamhappy• 8 years ago

He has videos on his Instagram that show him starting from scratch, live painting President Macron (no idea when that happened) and more.

WhATiSCaMeLcaSE3• 8 years ago

I feel that a disproportionate attention goes towards the chronological age of young achievers. Suppose he's had 3 years of intensive practice. I'd like to live in a world where a 50 year old, who has spent 3 years practising, get the same amount of praise.

IMO, this whole 'Look at what this 15 year old can do!' needs to change to 'Look at what 4 years of practice can get you'.

golergka2• 8 years ago

On a related note, I'm a bit annoyed by the attention people pay to rather boring realistic art. I'm actually conflicted about it, because on the other hand, a teenager investing his time and effert into a skill like this is awesome, and I do hope that he pursuits art later in life. But the pictures themselves...

Karuma5• 8 years ago

That's to be expected. We're amazed by the realism of the pictures of pre-photography times, although nowadays anyone can achieve even better results with some simple copy methods and a photo.

Kind of sad to see in every art subreddit just "human-photocopied" pictures being upvoted (extra points if you digitally color-picked all shades of color from the photography, besides the usual tracing of every line) instead of real, creative art...

nerdponx• 8 years ago

To the untrained eye, this looks much more challenging than something more abstract. I am untrained myself, and I'd appreciate an explanation of why this isn't technically interesting. It's not like every art school grad can do this.

specialist2• 8 years ago

The story sells the artist. Please don't begrudge any artist that manages to get noticed.

WhATiSCaMeLcaSE3• 8 years ago

You misunderstand my point. I'm arguing against his age being used as a wow factor. IMO, such articles make older artists, who have managed to put in the same amount of effort, seem less gifted.

Art should be appreciated for what it is. Shouldn't matter if the artist is 11 or 40.

vfinn• 8 years ago

I think you talk out of pure envy, which is understandable, but people are generally interested in prodigies and nature's wonders, it's just the way things are. What matters is that the kid brings a lot of hope and joy to people.

And what comes to old people doing similarly amazing things, there are stories like that: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/931295/OAP-84-paints-magni...

WhATiSCaMeLcaSE3• 8 years ago

Funny that you link an article whose title is "OAP, 84, paints magnificent masterpiece - but has never had an art lesson in his life" but inside the article, we have "... Former toolmaker Ken Small worked seven hours a day for three years to produce the extraordinary reproduction of Canaletto's famous work."

My argument is that 'working 7 hours a day for 3 years' should have been the title of the article, not the effortless perfection suggested by "...but has never had an art lesson in his life".

What matters is that the kid brings a lot of hope and joy to people.

I disagree. The article brings clicks. If we're to bring hope, let the focus on things that people can work with. You can't become 11 years old. But if you learn how the kid practised, challenges he faced, etc, you have something to build on if wish to get to his expertise level some day.

If that sounds like pure envy, then I'm happy to be the villain of this story.

throwaway777902• 8 years ago

Comments seen here are the worst knee jerk reactions. Massive skepticism without doing any research whatsoever. You can easily go to google and find out he was with Macron. Why would a French President seek to be part of a ploy to deceive anyone about a young artist drawing him live would be beyond belief.

Second is the reactions downplaying what he can do. Seriously, it doesn't matter what you think another person could do. "Have any kid at age 6 and they could achieve this." It is hard enough to get motivation from failing many times to do something. How many of your personal or even business projects have panned out?

And some of you wonder why another commenter pointed out geographic bias as the source of the negativity? Whatever your negativity, it is disgusting.

drcode4• 8 years ago

Massive skepticism without doing any research whatsoever

That's what the comments section on HN is for, we're having a conversation here to learn about the story at greater depth.

throwaway777902• 8 years ago

Yes and I threw skepticism on your and other's skepticism. This is what the comments section is on HN for no? Generally a comment without research is ignorant. You would expect this kind of skepticism if you cannot find anything, but here we are.

OoTheNigerian• 8 years ago

Hackernews refuses to disappoint.

I bet the comments would have be less sceptical if it was about an 11 year old Nigerian cyber fraudster.

Sorry lads, positive stuff comes out from my country from time to time. Just don't get too upset when it makes Hackernews.

Personally, I'd like to see comments on how such a young and extraordinary talent from a very humble background (even by Nigerian standards) can develop to become a much more rounded artist.

I'm not interested in prejudiced minds questioning the legitimacy of my young and talented compatriot.

KboPAacDA3• 8 years ago

Given enough time, any person can create a wonderful work of art -- or even software. I learned this while working for a college art department and seeing the faculty evaluate portfolios for scholarships. Looking at a beautiful pencil sketch, they would point out telltale strokes that revealed the time spent on the piece but not mastered skill. That's OK, it was a beautiful accomplishment, and the college could give them the skills.

I think of this when I dream of software projects that I want to accomplish. If I just start now, and steadily work toward the goal, learning as I go, eventually it will come to be.

Nigerian artist, age 11, creates incredible hyperreal portraits

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