Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity to share my world, my art. I am  Abuchi Philip Iroegbu, and I was born  November 2nd, 1998, to a family of four (my parents and my brother). I am a Nigerian, from Imo state.

 I am a self-taught Pencil Artist working in the genre of art: emotional realism.  I use a medium pencil, charcoal on paper. I'm a student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, currently studying Public Administration. 

Starting Out as a Beginner

          I started drawing at the age of 6. My first attempt at anything art came when I picked up a stick and started drawing on the ground. I vividly remembered drawing cars, trees, and figure-line objects.

 Ever since then, I have been practicing to improve my craft. 

It was a normal riddle for my friends in senior secondary school that whenever you see anybody holding cardboard paper, look again; it is Abuchi. It is because it has become a symbol of who I turned out to be, an addicted emerging Artist. 

Choosing Art in University

           When it was time to study at the university,  I quickly picked fine art. However, I encountered many challenges in my environment.  First, there were not enough encouraging mechanisms put in place by the educational sector. From my senior secondary,  we did not have a fine art teacher.

 So there was nothing like fine art as a subject in my school. The option left was to study the subject personally, put it in (WAEC) West Africa Examination Council Examinations. But, again, I believed that Artists are struggling people who couldn't fend for their financial needs.

As a result, I was discouraged by "special" people who wanted a better life for me. 

Art is My Hobby, My Passion

Art became a hobby because of passion, ever since I have been drawing. Then, I encountered getting the right materials like Tombow mono zero erasers and creating my art pieces. As a result, I improvise them. 

             My Art: before when I started using pencils as a medium to draw. I was using color markers, poster colors, and ink to draw cartoons, etc.  Then in 2015, I discovered my mentor Kelvin Okafor's amazing photo-realistic Artwork through social media. 

His works are always stunning and unbelievable. So I decided to become a pencil Artist. Other artists like Dirk Dzimirsky, Emanuele Ascanio, Stanley Arinze, Joy Chiamuowa, Jeffrey Appiatu, etc., motivates me to work harder. 

Art Speaks for Me

              I love to use my work as a form of Art Activism. For example, speaking through my artworks on societal issues like rape, molestation, racism, fear of the future, suppression, personality disorder, etc.

 I consciously believe in creating thought-provoking artworks that connect the viewers to the stories of the muse and the ordinary individuals of the society and create awareness for the solution.

 I spent countless hours creating a piece of art ranging from 50 hours to weeks. From time to time, I draw popular people that inspire and help humanity, like Mother Theresa, Idris Elba, etc. Through this, art becomes a therapy to relax my soul. 

Check Out My Gallery!

 In the gallery below, you will find my picture and my artworks "Songs of Innocence," "Let Loose,"  "Mirror," "Suffocation," "A Soul Like Yours," and others.

I hope you enjoyed my story and the gallery. Feel free to connect with me on social media using the links above. Thank you for your support.

My favourite thing about art is that it reflects the individual artist and their personality. And you can visualize their thought processes just by looking at their work.

 If you create by only listening to what others believe you should create, it isn't truly your art. And you won't feel that same sense of pride and attachment to it as if it was your own.

Using your creativity and imagination, you can create thought-provoking concepts and unique scenes that nobody else could. And I think that is such a beautiful part of being an artist!

To connect with Laura, visit:

https://www.instagram.com/lcarolineart/

https://linktr.ee/lauracarolineart

Everyone is born into a circumstance that they have no power to control. Some are born to wealth and social position, others to a lesser financial and social class. That's just the way life is. 

However, each of us has a spiritual gift from birth, whether it's a physical gift or a mental gift. What we do with that gift will dictate our future and the course of our lives. 

I was born to a wonderful middle-class family with amazing parents.  It was during this time when life in America was as good as it gets. I can't think of a time when I was ever without life's necessities. 

My dad was a "sign man." He was good at his job and worked very hard to produce the best product possible. He built signs from the ground up, designing, building the "box," the actual sign out of sheet metal, and painting the box. Then, he would lay out the form, lettering the message and producing the neon.

 Yep, he was called a "glassblower," and he was very good at it. I was privileged to learn everything that he knew and used in his trade except glass blowing. Eventually, I would use that knowledge to build hot rods and classic cars. 

 My dad produced a 5-inch piece of pipe long enough to mount the sign on and sent me out to set the pipe in the ground with concrete. A few days later, I mounted the new refurbished "USED CAR" sign in front of the used car lot. A job well done, or at least that's what I thought. Finally, my birthday came, and my dad presented me with my 16th birthday present, a 1954 Studebaker 2 door, red with a black roof.

It was my first car that he traded the sign for. I was, of course, excited to have the vehicle even though I was disappointed because it was a Studebaker, an un-cool car in the day. It had a flat head six-cylinder that was so slow, and you could walk around the block and get home before the Stude.

 I expressed my concern to my dad, who got in touch with a neighbor who was the parts manager for the local Chevy dealer. As we called him, Mr. "Hig" came through with a beautiful 210, 2 doors, 1954 Chevy, black with a white roof so that I could trade the Stude and $50.00. Yes, 50.00! I was delighted even though it was a six-cylinder. It was faster than the Stude and much "cooler."