NFT Showroom Artist Spotlight: @glogurl

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Gloria Olarewaju. I'm from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria and I base in Nigeria also. I have B.Sc Microbiology from the University of Ilorin. I am an artist, a bag and shoe maker. I am someone that is deeply attracted to my culture and I tend to represent them in my art. I always like to create art to explain some adage and names in my culture. I'm also drawn to drawing portraits and I try to find a way to explain what I'm trying to pass across in the expression of the face and its looks the best way I can. Aside from being a crypto-digital artist, I'm also a pencil portrait artist. Before venturing into the crypto digital world, I've been drawing pencil portraits as commissions for people. Probably that's why I feel so comfortable expressing my digital artworks mainly through portraits.

Q: What is your art background?

In all of my art forms, I am self-taught. I've been making small drawings since when I was in elementary school but mainly when I was in high school and University. I've always been comfortable working with pencils. I do make sketches using pencils and I later decided to explore more by making big portraits of people. After trying that and seeing it was good I kept doing it and I loved every part of it.

After joining hive and getting introduced to the NFT world, I decided to venture into digital drawing for the very first time. After a lot of practice, I find it comfortable using the scribble method to produce my digital drawings. With the scribble pattern I produce colorful digital NFTs that I sell on Nftshowroom. Like I said earlier, I explore mainly my culture in my art. Sometimes I deviate into my feelings, some notable phenomena around, giving life to them in my drawing. I make my drawings on my phone but I'm saving up to get a drawing tablet soon.

Q: How long have you been in cryptoart/ NFTs, how did you discover them and what has been your experience so far?

I ventured into cryptoart/NFTs a year ago and I was introduced by a very good friend of mine Hive account@yanga who is also a cryptoartist on Nftshowroom. When he told me about it, I wasn't even a digital artist then. Once I knew about the crypto world I grew interest, developed myself and gave it a trial. Now I am so grateful for being a part of the amazing world of cryptoart. I've never imagined my arts traveling through the borders of Nigeria but now they have. It also gives me the opportunity to be more creative, expressive, and to diversify. Coming as a simple pencil portrait artist, this is a huge opportunity I'm always thankful for.

Q: Any new art or upcoming projects you would like to tease?

My next project will be titled "Alajo Somolu". It's the name of a popular thrift collector in the 1950s who is very popular due to his efficiency. Now people use the name "Alajo somolu" to describe someone who is/might be in that line of trade but very brilliant and accountable. Alajo somolu will be describing someone of high diligence, who is trustworthy and who is of great dignity. He/she can be trusted with whatever is being given to him/her to keep. The form in which the drawing will come out hasn't been fully decided yet but it will be a piece to look out for.