He's Just 11-Years-Old, But People Are Calling Him The Next Michelangelo

Aug 01, 2018 by apost team

Kareem Waris Olamilekan may look like any other typical 11-year-old boy in Nigeria. But his artistic talent is far from ordinary! His amazing ability to create lifelike images is bringing him notoriety from across the globe.

For example, he recently completed a portrait of French President Emmanual Macron. When Macron visited the country Olamilekan actually put his skills to work sketching the entire portrait in only two hours! The French leader was highly impressed by the young artist's skill. Though he has been posting his works online for about a year, it was this piece that raised international awareness of his abilities.

apost.com

Kareem is affectionately known as "Waspa." This title means "the bitty artist." Though he's been drawing since the age of six, Waspa started to consider himself a professional artist by the age of eight.

Each artist has their preferred medium, and Waspa is no exception. Pencil and charcoal sketches are his favorite types of drawings. He loves creating realistic portraits of people from all walks of life. For fun, this versatile artist also draws comic-style artwork to amuse other youngsters.

Waspa draws his inspiration from both the great masters of the past, such as Da Vinci and Michaelangelo, as well as contemporary artists from his native land. One of his personal heroes is a Nigerian artist known as Arinze.

The art school where Waspa studies is located in humble surroundings. In spite of being from a modest, low-income area of Lagos, Nigeria, the young prodigy's teachers are confident that he will enjoy fame and success. The school's director, Adeniyi Adwole, remarked of the young lad: 

"I believe with what he has been doing, he's going somewhere greater."

Waspa has a healthy dose of that same confidence. He has told reporters that he hopes to one day have his work hung in museums just like the world's most renowned artists.

If you want to see more of Waspa's outstanding works of art you can visit his Instagram account, or you can see him in action below:

Let us know your thoughts about this 11-year-old who has the art world buzzing. Do you agree that he has the skill to become one of the greatest artists of all time? Pass this inspiring story along to your friends and family!