How Artist Andre Oshea Is Leading the Way in the Digital Renaissance
Though NFTs have been around since 2014, it wasn’t until recently that they’ve gained popularity as a way to purchase and sell artwork. Among the visual artists paving the course of this future-forward movement is the acclaimed 3D animator and NFT artist Andre Oshea.
Oshea heard about NFTs merely a year before becoming active in the space. He was approached by fans encouraging him to create NFT artwork. Since 3D art remains admired in the world of NFTs, it served as a natural progression for Oshea. After watching the NFT success of many of his peers, Oshea gave it a try and has since become one of the most successful NFT artists in the scene.
The Horse, The Hands, & The Head
“This is the first piece I made where I really felt like I had made a piece for myself and not through the lens of anybody else. Micah Johnson owns one of them. I really, really love that piece. I still don't even know what it means. I just have a spiritual connection with it.”
After a fateful incident at their then-home base in Philadelphia, Oshea and his girlfriend decided to start their lives over in Atlanta. He says, “We had both decided we're not going to look for real jobs anymore. We're just going to figure out how to work for ourselves. We're going to grind and get on the Internet. It's a passion that both of us had.”
Though Oshea was a DJ and music producer, he had visual art and graphic design background. He knew of musical artists who needed graphic design work, so he created graphic art for various musicians. After a month, Oshea realized he liked motion design. He states, “It was more fun because it was animated. It could have a little bit more personality. It also made me more money. I was like, ‘This makes sense to me,’ and very quickly I got into motion design.” So, he began watching tutorials on how to create motion art in Adobe After Effects. Then, he secured his first 3D project and hasn’t looked back since. Oshea’s work has sold for thousands of dollars and has led to an A-list roster of clients, including singer-songwriter John Legend, TIDAL, Snapchat, plus others - and a nod from Vogue.
Wild Ridge Mountain
“This is a night and daytime piece. The nighttime version was my first real bidding work – and that was really cool. I always liked the daytime version a lot. That piece was featured in Vogue.”
In his artist statement on Umba Daima, Oshea mentions he takes pride in being a Black man and subsequently brings that into his artwork as much as possible. “I feel like a lot of people see art like mine, and they don't expect the artist to be Black. I think that a lot of popular 3D artists are white or foreign in a different country,” says Oshea. “To be honest, 3D art is sort of like a genre of privilege. You have to have a high-end computer and the programs are very expensive. So, you either need to have some sort of investment capital or know your way around the Internet to get free stuff. I just think, for that reason, a lot of Black people don't have the same opportunity to explore 3D art, whether it be in their schools or their friends.”
The NFT world is without creative boundaries, so Oshea has created a personalized process to avoid the inundation of projects and ideas. “I've just stayed true to who I am as an artist. At this point, I have years of being a professional artist, so I have a certain type of rhythm that I understand about myself when it comes to creating,” Oshea mentions. “The NFT space offers such opportunity and freedom creatively that I almost feel called to do those things. The space deserves it if that makes sense. As an artist, sharing myself with the blockchain and sharing myself with this culture in this community and this art movement, this art Renaissance, it deserves the proper respect that I can give as an artist.”
Tags: Gabrielle Pharms, web-original, NFT, Andre Oshea, Art, Tech,
Photography by: Andre Oshea
