AN INTERVIEW WITH RENOWNED CARTOONIST MUSTAPHA BULAMA

Mustapha Bulama is a good representative of West African ninth art. As a well-known Nigerian cartoonist and illustrator, his works have graced the pages of numerous news journals, books, comics, and the social media, gaining many fans and the attention (sometimes ire) of politicians along the way.  Bulama’s cartoons are known for their wit, humour, light pen strokes and conscientious use of colour- making them instantly recognizable and appealing.

Teambooktu sat down with this award-winning cartoonist for a quick chat.

Tell us a bit about your journey as a cartoonist.

I started drawing as a young child among art-gifted siblings. I learned the basics from them. It was more or less a hobby for me then. However, my professional career kicked off as a comic strip artist for Weekly Trust (later to become Daily Trust) in the early 2000s where I made the first serialized comic strips for the newspaper with stories like Adventures of Bash and Biba and Professor Nomau’s Travails. This journey ended with my university admission. I couldn’t handle both at the same time.

My journey as an editorial cartoonist began by sheer coincidence in 2008. A friend of mine who was doing his National Youth Service at Desert Herald Newspaper wrote  an article for the newspaper. He requested me to make an  illustration for him to go with it, which I did. The editor was so intrigued by the illustration that he invited me to his office to ask about it, eventually offering me a job as an editorial cartoonist/illustrator for the paper. I had little idea what an editorial cartoonist did at the time but started work as one almost immediately. To polish my craft, I took guidance from mentors and followed international cartoonists I stumbled upon along the way .

In 2010, I returned to Daily Trust as a freelance cartoonist and became a contract staff in 2013. This gave me the liberty to do cartoon work with other individuals and organisations such as Deutsche Welle (DW) and China Radio International (CRI) to name a few.

What is the difference between an editorial cartoonist and an illustrator?

An editorial cartoonist expresses personal opinions, general opinions or novel/trending opinions on a subject matter to trigger thought or discussion. An illustrator makes drawings for articles, books, magazines … draws prominent figures, projects etc. He or she doesn’t have to express an opinion. Most times he illustrates someone else’s.

Any works that come to mind that you’ve handled as an illustrator?

Hmm. Let me think of a couple. Okay, I was commissioned by the National Agency for the Great Green Wall to draw a comic book on The Great Green Wall, educating children on the benefits of planting trees and the threat of desertification and climate change. That was an important project on environmental awareness. Another comic book whose illustrations I worked on was Bayajidda: An African Legend. It was an adaptation of a popular Hausa legend by Claude Opara.

Then there are storybook illustrations such as The Great Challenge and Saving the Waterfall. There are many other projects I’ve been commissioned to handle but these are just a few.

You mentioned following international cartoonists and mentors to improve your craft. Who were your mentors and inspirations?    

First off, my siblings and friends. I drew pictures with them while growing up. Though I was the only one who pursued it as a career, some of them were much better than me and challenged me to improve. I remember picking up an X-Men comic (we had very few comics back in those days) and drawing the entire comic from cover to cover, panel to panel!  Video games also aided in honing my skills as I drew characters regularly -like those in Mortal Kombat- for practice.

Albert Uderzo, the French comic book artist inspired me a lot. I love his Asterix comic books.

My mentors? Abdulkareem Baba Aminu, whom I met in 1994, was a major influence. He was drawing for the Democrat Newspaper at the time and gave me very sound advice and guidance in my craft. I remember Hajiya Aisha, wife of the owner of Daily Trust, was a strong supporter too when I started as a comic strip artist. She coined the names Bash and Biba for the comic strip. Back then, we drew with pencil and embellished with ink. It was strenuous work meeting deadlines. Then Amina Aliyu Gusau, who admired my work, came along with strong support and bought me my first graphic tablet. I am forever grateful to these people.

I admire Zapiro a lot. The seasoned South African cartoonist. He is one of my inspirations without a doubt. His works speak for themselves. Then there’s Gado– the Tanzanian political cartoonist and animator. I love his humour and strokes. With these guys and others, I began to understand the power of the editorial and political cartoon. Despite the humour, it was a serious tool for advocacy. A watchdog and voice for the voiceless.  But I also appreciated the need for responsibility with this power we wielded and the crisis that can stem from us as well.

Interesting. Those are great choices.  Do you have any favourite editorial cartoon from your works? Which do you think has been the most impactful?

Hmm. That’s a tough one to answer. There are a few political jokes that I can think of but it would be better appreciated if you are familiar with the context. Take for example the one about Nigeria Air -the airline whose aircraft are said to only exist on paper?

Then recently the one about the Niger State Government (a state in Northern Nigeria) barring civil servants from wearing kaftan, baban riga, and other native attires to work from Monday to Thursday? A position they later retracted.

There are a few others like the one I did when Kwankwaso (former governor of Kano State) was expelled from his party NNPP. But perhaps the most controversial, I guess in terms of publicity it garnered, would be my cartoon that got the attention of the First Lady at the time, Aisha Buhari, regarding her daughter’s grand wedding of which she posted pictures on Instagram. She wasn’t too pleased.

But it was also nice to receive a compliment from (former) President Buhari himself as a ‘damn good cartoonist’ following a cartoon I made. Not one of my favourite but for that recognition, I will put it on my list. These are the few that come to mind right now.

There has been a drop in the art of comic strips. Abroad, there were funny syndicated strips like Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes. Back in Nigeria, we had Emulewu, Captain Afrika, and so on. Many of the popular comics back then like Tintin and Asterix started as serialized strips. What do you think caused the dearth of this art form?

Well, for one, digitalization has affected the print media. Many have migrated from getting their news from the pages of papers to anywhere online. The news sources are no longer aggregated in an area per se. From the African perspective, globalization happened. Easier access to Western culture, webcomics, and comic downloads. These influences affected our outlook toward our own stories as well, and how they are interpreted. Bespoke industries like Marvel and DC are more of the target and inspiration now and they are not into comic strips. Nowadays, reading is becoming an endangered hobby. Kids prefer to watch films and play computer games than comics so there is a lot of movement towards animation now. Animated features about non-Western characters and stories are growing. You can remember Moana for example and Kugali’s Iwaju – an animated mini-series in an Afrofuturistic setting.

Sometime ago, I met Mr. Wale Adenuga– the creator of the popular Ikebe Super, Super Story and Binta comics back in the day- and he opined that the economy killed comics and the funnies. Newspapers had challenges with printing and had to make cuts. I believe the economy and available market also play a significant role. Comic strip artists need to be paid and getting syndication is not easy when you consider all the factors I have mentioned. Hergé was paid well for Tintin in those days, and his strip compilations also sold out, remember?

Traditional or digital drawing?

I do more digital drawing now. Personally, I prefer it. Everything now has gone digital. With the traditional method you will still have to scan afterwards, and it reduces the quality. Also, if you collaborate with people a lot online, digital drawing would be more efficient. It actually depends on how you work. The downside to digital art is not having original hard copies.

You attended an animation festival in France a couple of years ago. How was the experience?

Okay. You referring to Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France? That was in 2022. The festival is over 50 years old. There was a competition organized by the French Embassy for artists to pitch a cartoon idea for the festival. So I sent in an entry called Chuso and the Bandits with an animator friend of mine, Tukur. We were part of the Nigerian contingent. It was an interesting experience. There were film directors, artists, game makers from all over the world. Great networking. Great experience. I’ve started learning a bit of animation myself.

It’s been quite an insightful chat we’ve had. Do you have any parting advice for upcoming cartoonists in Africa?

Keep on keeping on. I almost gave up at one stage, but tenacity eventually paid off. You could do something by the side to keep body and soul together in this economy but don’t let your passion fade away. The more you work on your craft, the better you become at it. Look out for the right opportunities but don’t do it just for money or you may be disappointed. Do it because you love to make cartoons- just for the joy and satisfaction. You will feel fulfilled regardless. Nowadays, the youth have greater access to visibility than most of us had with the advent of social media and the internet- use it to your advantage to get needed exposure.

Thanks for your time.

It was a pleasure.