Hi, have you met... Arinze Stanley Egbe?

I came across Arinze Stanley Egbe, by chance, on twitter after someone had retweeted a picture with much praise of the artist. At first, it looked like a photograph but I soon realised that it was actually a drawing. I had to find out more.

1. Tell us about yourself
My name is Arinze Stanley Egbe born on November 20th 1993. I hail from Imo state, Eastern Nigeria but I live in Lagos. I'm also an engineering graduate of Imo State University.

2. What got you into art? Who inspired you?
I've been drawing virtually for as long as I can remember but everything changed when I decided to go the extra mile by taking my art career as a full time career in 2012 after coming across some artists on social media like Kelvin Okafor, Joel Rea and Emmanuele Descanio. I got really inspired so I picked up my pencils and started to train myself. I took a while to discipline myself in the craft as I spent sleepless nights training myself to become better at what I do. I never had any form of training from anyone.

3. How do you bring your drawings to life?
Well, I use very humble mediums from charcoal pencils to graphite pencils, I experiment through so many techniques like cross hatching and scribbling but basically it just flows through me into the paper like energy transfer. I take about 200 to 350 hours working on a piece.

4. What is the most inspiring place you've been to?
I'm a pencil artist working in the genre of Hyperrealism. I draw inspiration from life experiences and virtually every where I go and basically everything that sparks a feeling of necessity to me , I also love to express deep and strong emotions as I find them most attractive.

5. Do you have a quote that you live by?
I have a slogan I work with which are my 'Triple P's. They are "patience, practice and persistence". These have guided me throughout the years and are still guiding me till now and no matter what craft you're in, I believe it's the perfect remedy for success..
My favorite quote is 'When you fall, stand up and keep walking... If you can't stand up, keep crawling'

6. Is there anything else you'd like us to know about you?
I'm currently working towards a Solo exhibition in the nearest future.

If you would like to follow Arinze, you can find him on Instagram and Twitter @harinzeyart and on Facebook www.facebook.com/harinzeyart