the business of being an artist.

Project type
Brand Design, Art Direction, Illustration,
Motion, Layout Design

Collaborators
Dá Design Studio
Paystack Design
Paystack Editorial

Date
2021 - 2023

Artwork is a video show about the business side of being a creative in Africa. In short 10 minute episodes, Toba interviews successful African photographers, designers, writers, illustrators and other creators, who share actionable tips for how to find commercial success while doing great creative work.

The name Artwork speaks to the idea that professional art is work. That creative work is valid work like any other profession. It almost feels like a repudiation to every African parent or teacher who has told a young person to go learn "something proper" or get a "real job". At the same time, it's also a caution to creators to take their work seriously and approach it with the same level of rigour as other disciplines. And then finally, it speaks to the idea of "a work of art" - as in the highest achievement of creative practice.

The pared back aesthetic of Artwork is inspired by the stark black and whites of old school payment receipts. This theme is subtly reinforced with visual devices like the iconic "ww" pattern we dubbed The Rip, the dashed line separators between sections and even in the ways columns of text are arranged. In motion, I animated at 12fps, a nod to old black and white cartoons and applied a little jitter to some objects leaning further into the aesthetic.