Inspirations.

The drama of African visual arts is what excites Fanuel. Regardless of simplicity, there are tensions between bold lines, colour and texture which vibrate with rhythm and movement. His encounter with Kenyan photographer Osborne Macharia’s Afropunk artworks were defining and directed his leaning towards Afro-futurism, as well as an understanding the vast breadth of the style. Indeed, Macharia’s use of contrasting colours heavily inspired Fanuel’s own themes.

Leul is also moved by Bulgarian photographer Svetlin Yosifov. The artist has epic photographs of African tribes which Fanuel has studied for character inspiration.

Work process.

Ideas come to Fanuel randomly, from movies to books, or simply commuting to work. Intense research follows on narration, aesthetics, and composition. The less creative part is then collecting 100s of references and images from the internet. Additionally, the artist will take photos and then create a collage of the images. This will be the foundation of the piece. Finally, he will blend the artwork on photoshop and paint in detail using a digital drawing tablet. Some individual pieces are destined for NFT minting. Sometimes he has a complete theme that he develops, like his series of robotic African masks.

Qedamawi: storytelling and art.

Qedamawi is a comic book project with the intention to narrate African history in a new light, mixing the epic stories of African Kingdoms with fantasy and the supernatural. The project’s genesis took place during the 120th Adwa victory holiday, when the country celebrates Ethiopia’s victory over Italian forces. Since this Holiday is a big deal in Ethiopia, it is common to see local artists creating artworks that commemorate the day. After creating an artwork that showcased Ethiopia’s patriots as superheroes, Fanuel decided to tell the continent’s epic history through a comic book format – the perfect combination of storytelling and art. Qedamawi now has a structured team of story writers, digital artists, and illustrators and will be launching its first issue shortly.

African culture & the future.

Fanuel believes that Africa is filled with untapped inspiration and, as a creative, he looks to his own Ethiopian heritage first and then layers it with other African inspiration. The sheer variety and depth – from outfits and ornaments to attitudes and characters – is found nowhere else. “I am always wondering of a sci-fi future that is based on African culture. I love the beauty that is created by the vibrance of African characters juxtaposed with an industrial and robotic future,” says Fanuel, adding that his artwork “narrates a setting rooted in African history and tradition. It looks at a future that still holds true to its roots.”