Kemane Ba asked me if i would like to join him for a music video project for Niwel Tsumbu. Niwel is a Congolese-born, Ireland-based guitarist with a virtuosic style drawing on jazz, classical, rock, folk and rumba.
One of the biggest inspirations for the visual world of Milimo was Margaret Courtney-Clarke and her book African Canvas. The art of the women from Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso blow my mind. From architecture, to sculptures to wallpaintings to pattern and clothing it influenced the whole world-design of Milimo.
Yemanyá / Yemoja / Yemoýa
According to the Yoruba religion from west africa, she is the mother of humanity and the major spirit of the sea and the Orishas. Orishas, are spirits sent by the supreme creator, Olodumare, to assist humanity and to teach them to be successful on earth.
When we went trough Margaret´s book over and over again, we realised, that Silla Camara from the Soninke tribe from Mauritania would be the perfect inspiration for our version of Yemanyá.
The Great Mosque of Djenné inspired the architecture for this scene. It started with a rough sketch, than a 3d scene by Kemane, again an overpaint by me and another 3d scene by Kemane for the final rendering. We repeated this process for a lot of scenes.
Ammit
With the forequarters of a lion, the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, and the head of a crocodile, Ammit was a nice creature to explore. This was my interpretation:
The African shapes and patterns were another topic that needed to be explored. Fortunately, Kemane was able to give me a lot of input. An interesting thing was the Cowrie shell that appears on the white T-shirt of our protagonist. In traditional African culture, the small humped, ovate shells hold significant spiritual and even monetary value.
Zaouli dancer
It is a traditional dance of the Guro people of central Ivory Coast in africa. The Zaouli mask was created in the 1950´s reportedly inspired by a girl named `Djela Lou Zaouli´.
Thank you for watching.
Enoy The Video:
Illustrator, Animator & Conceptartist. Teaching characterdesign @HSLU Luzern. Livepainting and Pixelart. And sometimes some good Borscht.
Enjoying fatherhood, storytelling, worldbuilding, learning from mother earth. I like perfectly ripe blackberries and good brushes. Co-founder of @konduktum. Working for systemic change in the creator economy!