Cartoonist Celestine Wamiru
By Francis Odupute
On Tuesday, 31st of August, 2021, during one of the interactive virtual classes via Whatsapp, in the on-going 3-month ‘CartoonAFRICA Females-Only Free Online Cartoon and Comics Creation Course,’ popular Kenyan female cartoonist, Celetine Wamiru, took upcoming African female cartoonists and illustrators to the task of changing the narratives and breaking the jinx of dearth of female voices in
Africa’s male-dominated cartoon industry and mainstream media.
Celeste, (as she is popularly called by her fans) started by telling her story; below are excerpts from the online engagement:
Celeste Wamiru(Kenya): Good afternoon girls/ladies.
I am ready to engage with you. By show of hands, let me know how many people are available for this session. I don’t know how old you are, but I started drawing at a very young age… maybe 4 or 5yrs.
In primary school, I was the kid everyone brought their exercise books for a drawing of the map of Africa…or the digestive system of a cow…
I didn’t know I could make a career out of it then…all I knew was I enjoyed reading picture books and copying what I saw in them with utmost accuracy.
In high school is when I realized I could take this interest and skill to the next level by sharpening my knowledge. I took art and design as a class and learnt about the theories that your lecturers have been
discussing with you here.
Because I was so good at it…I decided to also pursue Art and Design at University level…perhaps to one day become like the newspaper cartoonists I admired so much in Kenya.
I approached them along this journey and asked them to mentor me. That is how I started my career as an Illustrator and cartoonist!
*[I’m inspired by your journey. Thank you for sharing]
Modinat Tijani (Nigeria): Interesting
Celeste: I still keep my sketchbook from college to remind me where I came from and how I have grown. (Posts various drawings and sketches):
Drawing from observation
*[This is a lovely nature drawing]
[Beautiful pieces, ma]
Celeste (displays various pencil illustrations and sketches): College sketches from the year 2000. I always carried a small pocket size sketchpad which I made from cutting A4 plain paper into 4 the binding
with a spiral binder. I couldn’t afford to buy already made sketchbooks from bookshop.
I drew anything and everything…all the time…in the bus…at break time at lunch to fill these sketchbooks and improve my observation and drawing skills.
Francodus (Nigeria): Sounds familiar.
Celeste: Yes we have to be creative when we cannot afford
Also note…all this drawing was by hand…6B pencil on paper. YOU
MAKE A BETTER DIGITAL ARTIST WHEN YOU CAN DRAW BY HAND.
*[You can say that again. Many of our students here don’t take our
drawing assignments seriously].
[Wonderful]
Celeste: There is no shortcut.
[I love your drawings Ma]
Celeste: Welcome to all joining in.
So back then things were still analogue. There was no social media to share your work. The only way to get jobs was to compile a PHYSICAL PORTFOLIO of your work in a presentable folder
You walked from publisher to publisher office showing it to editors and hoping they will like and call you for work
I got my first job to illustrate a children storybook for 80 USDollars…it was the happiest day of my life then.
[Pardon me ma; I have a question]
Celeste: I can take Questions
[I only know how to draw with Adobe illustrator. I’m not that good with hand drawing. So does it mean am I am not a better artist? This is what
(…posts a digitally created art): I’m talking about… I only know how to draw with Adobe illustrator. I’m not that good with hand drawing].
Celeste: There are major proportion and perspective mistakes on this digital drawing. If you had trained your eye and practiced by hand, you would not make those mistakes. I would advise that you practice.
Start now. Drawing is about observation and eye hand coordination.
[Okay ma. Thank you very much. I asked because someone told me that I
don’t need to learn hand drawing if I can draw with soft wares].
Celeste: Digital drawing allows people to trace….anyone can trace.
But to set yourself apart as an artist you must CREATE…
[Good point ma].
Celeste: You can borrow several elements as references from other work…but have the capacity to create your own unique piece of art. Change elements…angles and perspectives.
[Yes ma. Am still on train though]
Celeste: You are on the right path
[Thank you very much ma. Your words are really helpful]
Celeste: Any other questions…we have 1 hour to go
Modinat Tijani: Well, I’ve been struggling with shading. Could you perhaps, help in that regard?
Celeste: Start by keenly observing how light falls on simple objects like a ball..or orange…or something spherical. Put it on a surface in a dark room and use a torch/bulb to see how the light falls on it.
Draw what you see. Change angle/direction of light and repeat. Then try a cube…etc.
Khyfayat (Nigeria): Ma, I’m good in drawing objects but when it comes to human being I don’t really know how to draw the face part.
Celeste: Start by looking at the whole human figure and it’s proportions before you focus on face.
Khyfayat: Noted, Ma.
Modinat Tijani: Hmm…This is interesting, thank you ma’am.
(Celeste shares Beginner GESTURE Drawing (2 of 3) – How to Draw
Expressively through Powerful Exercises: youtube.com
https://youtu.be/KVXOIBRdzPw).
Francodus: We’ll go into human anatomy drawing during the 2nd circle of this course. Students take note and get ready for more serious work then…
Khyfayat: OK sir.
Celeste: Start with match stick figures…fill in the body slowly
Khyfayat: Alright ma
Celeste: Also copying from magazine is a good way to practice faces.
Khyfayat: Wow!
Celeste: SO FROM THAT BACKGROUND…I ended up being a political Editorial cartoonist. What that involves is being in touch with current affairs, in the country, continent and global news. It means
being confident enough to have an opinion about issues and putting down your views as a drawing. Below are some of my recent cartoons:
(shares some current cartoons).
Ashley Nkiwane (Zimbabwe): I’m happy to be here…even though late. Your drawings are really beautiful. I’m taking notes
Francodus: Welcome, Ashley. It’s better late than never.
Ashley Nkiwane: Thank you
Wooow so animating political issues… however very connotative
Khyfayat: Awwwn! …And for sure they pulled out
Celestine: So you learn to distort images to make a point
Ashley Nkiwane: The pictures also make sense when you follow current affairs
Ashley Nkiwane: Impressive. Awesome!
Celeste: For example the humans in my cartoons may look un-proportional…I bent the rules of drawing. But I knew the rules in the first place!
Khyfayat: So nice!
Celeste: I know how to draw human figure proportionally. For example the humans in my cartoons may look unproportional…I bent the rules of drawing. But I knew the rules in the first place!
Francodus: On point: learn the rules, master the rules, then bend the
rules with purpose, right!?
Celeste: Correct
Ashley Nkiwane: By this you also creating your own style…that people
know you of…right?
Celeste: That’s true
Ashley Nkiwane: Noted
Edeesmart: Noted ma
Isaac Ipolamin: I am also following. Very insightful and educative
Francodus: Please, Celeste, what makes for a great editorial cartoon -the drawing or the message being passed on? When a person wants to create a cartoon that will fly, what should she pay more attention on -a good idea or an ability to draw well?
Modinat Tijani: Interesting question.
Celeste: In cartooning, you have to draw people’s faces in a caricature form. This means you must have very good observation skills. A great editorial cartoon will be a balance of the drawing and
the message being passed. You may have a good message but without good drawing skills then your
message may not come out as intended. Likewise if you have a beautiful drawing without a clear message then it does not communicate either.The message should come out with minimal text
Isaac Ipolamin: Very true ma.
Khyfayat: Oh! That’s true.
Francodus: Students, note that someone will be teaching you all the skills of Caricature creation in the 2nd circle of this course. He has given his permission to be added to our faculty…
Edeesmart: Great!!!
Modinat Tijani: I want to ask, is it permissible to draw on political matters without any fear from government, especially drawings that criticize those in power?
Celeste: Here in Kenya we have good freedom of speech. A few people
will be offended but it’s hard for them to pin you down since an image is open to interpretation.
Khyfayat: Awwwwn!
Modinat Tijani: Hmm…
Ashley Nkiwane: Woooow
Sarah Ejike(Nigeria): Wow
Celeste/ Kenya: As a cartoonist…one must learn how to communicate messages in a humorous way but not cross the line to being vulgar. It is called SELF CENSORSHIP.
Ashley Nkiwane: True!
Francodus: The story is different here in Nigeria. We the professional cartoonists are self-censoring because of what we see happen to our media colleagues who criticize or pillory those in power. Remember that Twitter is currently banned in Nigeria for correcting our President, Buhari, over a hate speech credited to him on Twitter…
Modinat Tijani: But remember….governments will change and one day the environment will be more accommodating to cartoonists.
Celeste: As a cartoonist…one must learn how to communicate messages in a humorous way but not cross the line to being vulgar.
Francodus: Vital point! Celeste, please how many African professional female cartoonists do you know?
Celeste: I don’t know many.
Francodus: Do you know any at all? If yes, just HOW MANY do you know?
I really want to know
Celeste: Just one – A Sudanese called Alar Satir…she does political
murals. She is based in UK I think.
Francodus: That’s different from editorial cartooning.
Celeste: Editorial cartoons may be just me. We hope to change
this…Through you guys, indeed!
Modinat Tijani: Interesting…
Celeste: We hope to change this…Through you guys, indeed!
Isaac Ipolamin: Very happy to hear this. So I will advise us all to take this course very serious and learn from our resource person, Mrs.
Celeste. I believe with this course we hope to change the narrative of the
cartooning profession by training more females; so students, this is
very timely.
Francodus: You may be right, Celeste. This is unfair to the female folks in Africa. Their voices are not heard in Africa’s mainstream media spaces, especially through press cartooning.
Isaac Ipolamin: Very true, Sir.
Celeste: That is why I am glad to be part of this initiative. I hope my discussion with the students was worthwhile.
Modinat Tijani: Yes, it was ma’am. God bless you.
Samuel Isaac Ipolamin: We are happy to have you here, ma.
Francodus: On point. This is the very continental NEED that this
project seeks to meet in the long term… Thanks, Celeste, for agreeing to be part of this initiative. It’s a
long term project that we hope to deploy to change the narrative and help to amplify the voices of female African storytellers through press cartooning, comics journalism, cartoon animation, etc. in the
near future, in the context of the SDGs. If there are no more questions, the class is ended now!
Thanks so much for your time, Celeste. You have added verve to this training so far. We’re grateful for your contributions.
Celeste: Thank you all.
Isaac Ipolamin: Hello! Everyone, seeing that our resource persons are taking their time share their knowledge with us, please let’s try and do the assignments from previous classes and submit appropriately so that we can move on the next phase of this training programme. If you need clarification, please private chat me. Thanks. I expect to hear from us. If Celeste, a lady can be a good female cartoonist, we can do better, drawing inspiration from her story. If you believe, you can achieve
Francodus: In the next three years or less, we want to produce at least 20 professional media cartoonists, comic artists/illustrators from across Africa, who are monetizing their talents and passion
through cartoons and comics. The challenge begins in September, 2021, through our special projects…
While the training continue here and also privately through one-on-one reviews and critiques of assignments, the SPECIAL
About Author
