How Kevin Hart Turned Nigerian Artist Into Global Sensation
Nigerian artist, Eli Waduba Yusuf has earned global fame overnight after tweeting a self-made pencil portrait of American comedian and actor Kevin Hart.
Never expecting a response from the subject of his work, Waduba Yusuf told the BBC it was it was like a “dream” when Kevin Hart directly contacted him about the portrait he’d created.
Now Hart has commissioned Yusuf to do portraits of yet to be identified celebrities, who are his friends.
According to a BBC report, Yusuf, a hyper-realism artist based in Kaduna, Nigeria, had spent two weeks drawing a detailed pencil image of Hart that looks like a black and white photo.
Yusuf tweeted out his masterpiece, tagging Hart in the hope that the actor might see the finished product.
(Watch the artist work on Kevin Hart’s portrait:
Some other people saw the work and began tweeting Hart about the talented young artist.
Eventually, the artwork came to the actor’s attention and he responded to one user: “Talent out of this world… Wooooooooow”.
Hart then went further and tweeted Yusuf directly.
The actor said that he not only wanted to buy the portrait, but also commission Yusuf to draw portraits of a few of his celebrity friends.
The reaction to Hart’s reply had more than 310k likes in the first 24 hours with people tweeting their congratulations to Yusuf and wishing him well, the BBC reported.
Yusuf said he was “thrilled” to be contacted by the actor: “I still can’t believe it; it feels like a dream. It’s been so overwhelming. Kevin Hart has just blew(sic) my mind.”
He went on to say: “A lot has changed – a few days ago I was just a local artist who loved drawing and would have loved the world to see my work, but I didn’t know it would happen so fast.
“Here I am having an interview with the BBC – please someone should wake me up!”
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