Thapelo Keetile

Soweto born and bred, graphic designer and illustrator Thapelo Keetile has been crowned the 2021 Fak’ugesi poster creation competition winner. On July 2021, Fak’ugesi called out to ALL African art directors, illustrators, 3D designers, animators, motion designers and graphic designers to submit their entries. Thapelo’s interpretation of the theme #BuildCozYouHaveTo came out at the top, and his design, an inspiring vision of Jozi as a smart city, powered by the creative use of technology, will be used on a continent-wide invitation to an immersive virtual experience, exhibitions and so much more.

“I started imagining how South Africa, especially Johannesburg, is changing a lot. Before COVID, we never thought that we’d be dependent on how we do things digitally, but we are here now, so that pushed the idea. I started imagining a city that’s taken from the concept of a metropolis, it just sparked something in me, a thought of Johannesburg being a smart city, where everything is run digitally, where we would actually have the systems of artificial intelligence, and coming up with our own ways of solving our problems digitally. So there’s a lot of involvement in inclusivity and equality and everybody is getting involved in it. I think this is the time that we need to start working on as a country, as a city.”

It all started in grade one, where the University of Johannesburg graduate was inspired by incredibly advanced artwork made by a peer: “I couldn’t believe that somebody could draw at that level to start with, and secondly, seeing you could actually transfer what you can see with your eyes on paper was even more amazing, and that’s how it started.” From there, the fascination grew bigger at every sight of new art. “I started drawing people’s faces. It started as simple as trying to take my paper and trying to replicate what I saw happening on TV, especially the cartoons. I was stunned by how these drawn images were moving, so I challenged myself to find out how that was done. I developed an interest in animation, specifically flat, 2D animation. I wasn’t completely exposed to computers by then, so drawing animation, watching cartoons like Pokemon, Dragonball Z was what pushed me into doing that.”

The High school phase tends to be a ‘make it or break it’ test for young creative pursuits, and Thapelo’s stuck. Those after school cartoon reproductions became paintings for classmates, eventually involving real life portraits. With his parents’ support, he continued to develop his art. “They made a big effort to involve me in the arts by taking me to art classes and getting me involved in activities in school that would involve me drawing weekly, or monthly art for articles.”

“It’s true what they say about tenacity, it pays off.”

It’s true what they say about tenacity, it pays off. Thapelo has built a creative career in graphic design & illustration for advertising agencies and corporations, alongside a thriving collection of collaborative multimedia passion projects from album covers, to placement print tees. The creative professional dream come true is worthwhile, but it’s not without challenges: “A lot of challenges that I have encountered include the struggles of getting some sort of PR…marketing my work and, you know, having platforms to help me put it out there. So at the moment, I’ve put my work on platforms like Behance and Instagram. Perhaps it also needs a little bit of thinking on my part, but I haven’t gotten to a point where I can expose my work at a larger scale. Another challenge is, with a lot of technologies emerging, there are a lot of problems coming up. I haven’t gotten the knowledge to actually figure out how I can, you know, merge my work, introducing these new tools. So just learning, learning a lot more about those, and also learning a lot about how I can get more exposure.”

Closing that gap is why he’s looking forward to more than seeing his winning design come to life all over the festival — it’s the shared learning opportunity it represents across the world of digital creativity that he’s really excited about. “I’d like to see what people are thinking about, or coming up with. I think I’m gonna see a lot; ideas that people are coming up with, and not be confined to what I know. Because what I know is mostly, you know, the skill of making illustrations and drawing, and just evolving in that area. I’d like to see what I can absorb, and what input I can make here.

So that’s the past — what’s next for this Johannesburg based creative? Breaking through mediums is the goal. “My dream is to start off with the skills and the talent that I have, and reflect it through different mediums. I have a lot of ambitions to do this in the form of sculptures, toys, or, interpreting what I have to say through clothing, and even comic books and animations, if possible. Throughout the years, I’ve been focused on developing an appropriate style that would suit the sort of narrative I would like to build, to take what I’m building with my style to different mediums for people to enjoy”

The shining star wants to make the jump from 2D to 3D. “An example that I’m very ambitious about doing is park sculptures, especially for kids to enjoy while they’re with their families. That’s something I would like to get involved in, maybe in collaboration with the city, to see how we can create environmentally friendly spaces, especially for the younger generations to come.”