22 August 2018, Reed Exhibitions Africa, ReedPOP and VS Gaming announced the addition of South Africa’s Kwezi team to the Comic Con Africa 2018.
Loyiso Mkize, Mohale Mashigo and Clyde Beech will be joining the already impressive line-up of comic book talent at the inaugural Comic Con Africa.
Loyiso Mkize is a South African visual artist living in Cape Town. Mkize has worked has worked as Head Illustrator for the South African soccer comic series Supa Strikas. In 2013 he started his own visual arts company LMArt (Pty) Ltd under which he created South Africa’s first superhero comic book series, Kwezi. Projects have included work for Archie comics, Mtv Shuga and Standard Bank. This runs concurrently with his long standing and constantly growing career in the fine arts in which he has had 5 solo and 6 group exhibitions in platforms like FNB Art fair in Johannesburg to Art Basel in Miami. Mkize was recently commissioned by Disney to create a Black Panther celebratory artwork for the premiere screening of the movie in Johannesburg. In 2018 he was included in News 24’s list of Mandela’s of the future.
Mohale Mashigo was born in Mapetla, Soweto, and is a multi-disciplinary storyteller who loves exploring the unknown. Her interests span the life of legendary story women such as Brenda Fassie, and the rich worlds created by authors such as Toni Morrison. The Yearning is Mashigo’s debut novel. It is a novel she began writing in 2006 and then abandoned. In 2011 she resumed working on the novel after a friend convinced her to. Mashigo says she has always told stories and in high school she and a friend wrote Sweet Valley High fan fiction. The Yearning recently won the University of Johannesburg Prize for debut fiction. In addition to The Yearning, Mashigo has written a YA adaptation of the film Beyond the River and she is a writer for the Kwezi comic book series. She also writes frequently for several magazines and newspapers. Mashigo is also an award-winning singer/songwriter, she performs under the moniker Black Porcelain; her music is play-listed in 36 countries and her debut album, Invincible Summer, won two Wawela Music Awards in June 2013.
Another Cape Town based artist joining the fold is Clyde Beech who is a visual artist and designer. Regardless of his adverse circumstances growing up in the Cape Flats, he was driven and motivated to reach his dream of becoming a professional artist. He now specialises in comic book art and sequential story telling. He is an Art Director, illustrator, digital painter, concept artist and colour art specialist. He’s worked on and helped develop some of the top comic books in the country, such as South Africa’s favourite super hero comic, Kwezi, as well as the widely distributed, soccer comic, Supa Strikas. He’s had a brief stint in 2D animation as a background and texture artist working of shows for both Disney Junior UK and Cookie Jar Entertainment Canada. He loves reading and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of comics, enjoys gaming, pop culture and has a background in martial arts. Clyde’s ultimate goal is to inspire and build a viable creative platform and infrastructure for future artist and creatives in South Africa.
The Comic Con Africa experience will include the Artist Alley – a space for independent artists who are producing original artwork in the form of comics, prints, posters and self-published novels, and books.
Comic Con Africa will be held from 14 – 16 September 2018 at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit & International Convention Centre. Comic Con Africa is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention that features comic books, games, arts, movies, pop culture elements and so much more.
More information about autograph sessions as well as ticket pricing will be announced at a later stage.
For more information about Comic Con Africa 2018, please visit: https://www.comicconafrica.co.za/en.html
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