Seye Sanyaolu… From accounting to digital media illustration

Before he left for the United Kingdom to study for his master’s degree in illustration in 2020, Oluwaseye Sanyaolu trained and worked as a freelance illustrator.

The accounting graduate of Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, created his illustration primarily through digital media and became skilled in the use of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator in creating customised illustration including portraits, music cover art, scenery and much more for both private and business purposes.

Now armed with a master’s degree in illustration from the University of Hertfordshire, which he obtained in December 2021, Seye, as the illustrator is simply called says he has no regret changing gears from a promising career in accountancy to what he described as the exciting world of illustration.

“I had a promising career in accountancy before I made the decision to change gears. It wasn’t the easiest decision, but I knew I owed it to myself to explore something that felt innate to me. I have always been interested in drawing since I was young and sketched a lot growing up to, sometimes, the annoyance of those around me.

“A lot of books, comics and television shows piqued my interest in illustration and I always wanted to be the one behind the material. To be the architect of those worlds and stories through my hands and a pencil or a graphics tablet pen nowadays,’’ Seye said, adding that it has always been difficult for him to point to anyone or anything specific that inspired him to veer off accountancy.

He, however, admits that it is the very idea of being able to create and illustrate characters and stories that got him interested and ultimately motivated him to get better at it.

Seye got a lot of great reception from clients and art enthusiast while practicing his art in Nigeria.

He also got a better reception in the UK. The reception he got and the fact that he graduated with distinction earned him a full-time job as an Illustrator in an educational publishing company where he also trains new illustrators.

Seye has so far been getting constant positive feedback about his work with the educational publishing company some of which are downloaded internationally by thousands of users.

One of his most downloaded works is the illustration he created for his company when Queen Elizabeth II passed.

The illustration was posted online and it is regarded as one of the most engaged posts across social media platforms that the company has made.
“It was also downloaded by a large number of users and printed copies of this illustration were seen at the gates of Windsor Castle as reported by websites such as the Daily Mail and The National,” he said.

With a steady increase in engagement and interest in his work and point of view and with rave reviews of his work by popular international fan sites such as Legiao dos Herois and X of Words, the Lagos-born Illustrator and an old boy of Dansol High School, Lagos, is working on being in a few group exhibitions, both digital and physical, in the coming year.

Although it is usually difficult for artist to pick their favourite works, Seye, whose art style is semi-realistic and is inspired by the aesthetic of contemporary graphic novels, picked ‘Vines’ an illustration he created for a recent project as his favourite ‘right now’.
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He explains “The project is a collection of illustrations about how apathy towards oneself creeps up during stressful times. This one in particular is my favourite of the project because I got to work a lot with perspective and light values to bring it to life and I feel like I also captured the exact feeling in the character that I was aiming for.

“I picked it because my work typically involves illustrations about myself and my interests, portraits and comic projects.”