A 16-year-old grade 10 pupil, Kgotso Sekake, from Boksburg developed a hand for powerful portraits that speaks to the heart at a very tender age.
Kgotso discovered his love for art (drawing) when he was still in Primary School drawing portraits of cartoons and since then he has never looked back. “It was in grade four (4) when I discovered the love of art and by then I was 10 years old, in the beginning of my journey I was just drawing the cartoons like DragonBall Z and Naruto among others,” Said Kgotso.
However, he started taking his gift seriously in 2018 when he realised that he can actually make an income by crafting realistic portraits. “By then I was drawing my friends and other celebrities,” Kgotso said. Luckily enough his family didn’t take his gift for granted as they encouraged him to continue with his work as he firmly said, “My mother and aunt were very supportive.” He emphasised.
While other school pupils were confused and wandering all over the place during lockdown not knowing what to do with their time, Kgotso, saw an opportunity to spend most of his time polishing his skills and doing what he loves most. “During lockdown my art work really kept me away from the streets because I only had time for drawing, it entertained me because it’s something that I really love,” Kgotso said.
Kgotso shared more saying, “Art is my life it needs somebody who is disciplined and very accurate with everything they do, when I’m emotionally not well I start drawing, it calms me down, and it relaxes my mind and makes me feel better.”
Nonetheless, he has made a business out of his drawing passion as he even gave Ekurhuleni News the price rates for his portraits, his prices are as follows: “A4 R150, A4 double R250, A3 R300, A3 double R400, A2 R600, and A2 double R700.”
The young boy concluded by saying that one day he wants to see himself as a very successful well known artist like Kelvin Okafor and become very rich from making portraits. “I would love to build my own art school, I would love to be a professional artist, have my own cars, build my mother a house and mostly I would love to be recognised worldwide for my drawing ability,” Kgotso concluded.