Into the Trauma
With daring and colourfully African illustrations, Bobby Trauma’s honestly impatient artworks have become a Rain favourite.
After spotting Bobby Trauma from Moyo Fuga’s artwork for Culture Man EP, we were convinced that the 22 year old Nigerian was the man of the new age.
Bobby Trauma started his path to greatness on his first day of primary school. After seeing a couple of kids draw stick figures, he knew this was his vibe.
“Since then, I just kept on drawing and destroying all my school notebooks,” The young Nigerian says.
It wasn’t until around 2010, that Bobby found out about digital art and decided to transition into that.
“Although, my art now involves both traditional and digital methods, I never felt quite satisfied with my fully digital drawings,” Says Bobby, “So, last year I decided to start drawing on paper instead. It’s super comfortable and I can scan the works and then colour them on my computer.”
Technology not only helped Bobby Trauma develop his art, but it helped Nigerian, UK-based Rapper and producer Moyo Fuga discover him. This led to a commission to create the artwork for Culture Man EP. After discussing the themes he was going to explore on the EP, Bobby knew immediately what Moyo Fuga wanted. A few days and a sketch later, Moyo knew this was the cover art he wanted.
“I sent it to him and he said ‘This is it’”.
The Culture Man EP shows a character mid-air, in between the proverbial devil and the deep blue sea. Where the devil in this case, is the items that influence our Culture. Drugs, Alcohol, music, fame, girls and fashion are represented by various items amidst pink clouds and an orange sky.
Bobby Trauma explains, “The artwork is open to interpretation. A man on his way to his own heaven, or someone about to lose his sanity.”
Currently, Bobby Trauma is working on a short comic for an American comic anthology, as well as a personal comic project.
Discover more of Bobby Trauma’s artwork here