Photo by Bernard Brand
Imile Wepener is an artist and illustrator from Johannesburg, South Africa.
Imile earned a BA Honours in Visual Communication (specializing in Illustration) in 2015 from The Open Window Institute in Pretoria (one of his Honours projects even nabbing him a Loerie Award in 2016). While in High School, Imile was the apprentice of South African master puppeteer Toby van Eck, and added the skill of puppetry to his repertoire that also includes sculpture, animation and painting.
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He currently mostly works as a freelance illustrator, having created commercial illustrations for Standard Bank; Exclusive Books; PUMA; Motherland Coffee; Scholastic; Karen Zoid; Bouwer Bosch; Desmond and the Tutus; Shortstraw; Donna Magazine and many others, for which he was ranked #17th best illustrator in South Africa by the Loerie Awards and as one of 50 of the best Emerging Creatives by the Design Indaba.
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Apart from illustration, he also works as part-time puppet maker and has created puppets for various entertainers and productions and is currently completing Bernd Ogrodnik's year long course on the art of carving wooden puppets.
Accolades
2019
Nami Concours
I was shortlisted for the NAMI CONCOURS Picture Book Illustration Competition and my work was exhibited at The Magical World of Contemporary Picture Book Illustration in Seoul, Korea.
2018
Loeries - Best Ranked Illustrators
I was ranked as #17 on the Loeries List of Best Ranked Illustrators 2018
2018
Culture Leader Arts Competition
I was runner up in the Visual section of the Culture Leader Arts Competition 2018
Feb 2018
Design Indaba Emerging Creatives
I was chosen as one of 40 of the best up-and-coming young creatives in South Africa, and exhibited at the Design Indaba Festival in Cape Town.
2016
The Loerie Awards
I was awarded with a Student Craft Certificate in 2016 for one of my Honours practical assignments - 'Bad Blood 1')
2015
BEHANCE PORTFOLIO NIGHT JHB
I was awarded with Best Design/Illustration Portfolio 2015 at the Behance Portfolio Night JHB 2015
Courses Completed
2022 - 2023
Art of the Wooden Puppet ACADEMY Course
Bernd Ogrodnik"s year long Academy course on carving wooden puppets
2022
Art of the Wooden Puppet FOUNDATION COURSE
Bernd Ogrodnik"s foundation course on the basics of carving wooden puppets
2021
Basic Hand / Rod Puppet Building
BJ Guyer's course on building a foam hand & rod puppet, via Stan Winston School.
2022
Animal Rod Puppet Building
Peter Court's online course on his method of creating Animal rod puppets
2022
Human Rod Puppet Building
Peter Court's online course on his method of creating human rod puppets with the use of soft-scultping the heads and arms
2021
Fabric characters design and creation
Piti Piti's online course on the design and creation of soft-toy characters, via Domestika