Meet Raphael Ugboloke

Kindly give us a brief overview of yourself?

Okay. My name is Rafael, I'm a 2D generalist –
illustrator, animator, motion, VFX , graphics, digital and traditional artist, photographer, videographer, prospective mechatronics software engineer, content creator and so on.

Was born and brought up in Lagos Nigeria, pursuing a degree at the Federal University of technology Owerri. I love to smile 😉

What country are you based in?

Nigeria

Please describe one of your typical workdays?

Wellm my typical work days starts from the night before and sometimes 3am in the morning. Uhm... I wake up to my phone, I do a thorough research and referencing on other people's pieces. More like some motivational juice. I save up cool posts and all.

Then I look up my calendar for works I have scheduled up. I check up mails too for corrections from clients, then I move to my system to do my thing... I give my self some break of a few mins, just to ease the light stress on my eyes and stretch my body, once it's as late as 12am and I feel tired I sleep. Basically not so organized, yeah?

What software/applications which help you in your workflow, would you recommend for digital artists?

Uhm... in the past I used this app by google called "Keep", it was really helpful, you should try that out. I have my calendar behind my desk to keep to dates too and I attach sticky notes on them as reminders also.

What parts of your job do you find most challenging?

Uhm... I feel the most challenging part is, uhm, not being able to connect to your client's idea.That could mess up a whole lot of things and waste much time, thereby stressing you.

Also, a situation where your client doesn't really know what he wants and isn't so free at giving out certain details too. Those are the most challenging to me.

What is your vision in the field of the tech-creativity?

Hmmm... "Everly", my vision is to dominate it. I try to involve my self in futuristic developments and project, I have always been a tech lover and been programming a long time, though I haven't been so stable there. But I think I am building my self to be able to use my craft in tech oriented projects and stuff.

What inspires you to keep pushing on, to create new works?

What inspires me?? Well every single creative out there. Uh....when you just wake up to see what others are doing and it keep blowing your mind off. Seeing them develop, you don't wanna be left behind. You don't wanna be below the game. That energy others put into their jobs keeps pushing me too.

What do you suggest is the biggest challenge creatives face in your field?

Hmmm! The biggest challenge should be in delivering quality in a very very limited time. This is because some clients and their timing ehn... "only God can save us".

Can you tell us about your worst experience with a client and how you handled it?

My worst experience was uhm... working on a digital art for over 2months just because the client wasn't really transparent enough and wasn't passing the details well to me. Long story short, we ended up using the first design I sent, hahahaha. That was 5days into the project. So the remaining days were a waste of time.

What are your most notable accomplishments which you would like to share with us?

Nothing so big for now. I know I have one of my animations to be screened at the Accra Animation festival on Sunday, Thursday (28 July -1st August). Then I have done some designs for notable brands - Ycee (AMBT records), Digital Medium Africa, ShowBoy NG. That's all I can remember for now plus, yeah, everything I know is self taught. Yeah...I learnt animation by my self in just 5days, that should be my biggest accomplishment... Hehe!

What would you say is the future of digital art in the growing technological revolution? Any suggestions for digital artists on necessary adjustments?

Digital art is never going off the line... It is gonna stay a long long time. The demand is just too high. There have been efforts to use AI to replace digital artists but till date those efforts have been in vein. To all digital artist out there, keep developing your self. Get acquainted with what's new and don't forget the old techniques too.

How can we connect with you?

Well, you can reach me by mail, or through my social handle

Mail: rafaelelrio@gmail.com
Instagram: @Rio.VFX
Twitter: @TheOther_Rio

Any further information for all digital artists out there?

Keep pushing, Pursue self development for real and dont bring sentiments into any of you dealings.

Thanks a whole lot Raphael for having us. Guys don't hesitate to check out his works, using his handles above.