Kevin Hart Purchased a Portrait of Himself By An Unknown Nigerian Artist

Based in Kaduna state in north-central Nigeria, Eli is an amazingly talented pencil artist who is able to create photographic-like images with nothing more than a lead pencil and a piece of paper.

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• March 5, 2019

It's fair to say there is an infinite amount of talent in the world. But sadly - particularly in the art world - much of the most incredible talent on offer often goes unnoticed due to young artists simply not having the means or platform to showcase their work.

So, when a truly gifted young artist gets their big break, almost by accident, it is really heartwarming!

One such artist is Nigerian born, Eli Wuduba Yusuf. Based in Kaduna state in north-central Nigeria, Eli is an amazingly talented pencil artist who is able to create photographic-like images with nothing more than a lead pencil and a piece of paper.

Nigerian art is thriving, with these hyper-realistic pencil drawings being a particular area of interest.

Eli recently reached out on Twitter, sharing an incredibly accurate drawing he did of comedian, Kevin Hart.

After thousands of re-tweets, Kevin saw Eli's drawing and was so impressed by the young artist's talent, he decided to respond.

In fact, not only did Kevin respond, he offered to purchase the drawing! He also commissioned Eli to do three more drawings of his "celebrity friends."

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that one Tweet has changed Eli's life. It represents his big break and the beginning of what looks to be an extremely promising career for him. People all over the world are now admiring Eli's work.

This fact isn't lost on Eli.

“Isn’t God amazing??” he wrote. “I just joined Twitter a day before yesterday and my work just went viral, my phone can’t stop buzzing.”

Eli responded with gratitude to all who took the time to retweet his original post.

Here's how people responded to Eli's amazing work.

Stephanie