POLOKWANE – Thendo Makatu’s portrait of Miss South Africa top 30 finalist, Shudufadzo Musida has garnered him several clients.
The 17-year-old from Dopeni, in Nzhelele drew the portrait to show his admiration for the beauty queen, who happens to the only finalist representing Limpopo in the competition. Mudisa only started drawing in 2010, scribbling cartoons on his school books, when he realised that it was something he enjoyed doing and the artwork did not turn out bad at all. “That was when I realised that it was a passion and now, I can’t go a day without drawing something,” he said.
Art has become an escape for him and has seen him through tough times where he felt broken and angry at the world. When he is happy or sad, the first thing he thinks about is his pencil and book. What make his art endearing is that he only uses HB pencils. Thendo tells his stories through art and feels free when he is drawing. “As much as I have the passion, I have had to work hard to improve my skill so that I could become a good artist,” he said.
He specialises in portraits of people but says this has also been a challenge as people don’t settle for mediocre art and referrals are important in his line of work. “I get angry at myself when my art does not turn out how I would like it to. I am hard on myself because I have had to deal with negative reviews but you can’t take it too personally because everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” he concluded.
