Images of sneakers customized by Gabriel Gabs Abens in his studio. Photo by Patrick Degbevi, used with permission. Manga has its fans in Africa too, and they want to wear their favourite characters on their clothes, including their shoes. Japanese manga is a cartoon style of Japanese origin known for the originality of the stories they tell, either in black and white or colour. Initiated as far back as the 18th century by Katsushika Hokusai, the great Japanese painter and cartoonist, manga has gone on to enjoy great success in Asia and has become popular today on every continent. Comics are an art in their own right, not to mention an industry that has garnered millions of fans worldwide. They are also often shown as animations on TV channels, which extends the audience to the youngest children. There are even those who find in them a source of inspiration for creating employment opportunities and making their name in the entrepreneurial sphere. This includes the young Central African Gabriel Gabs Abens, a marketing and business strategy student in Dakar, Senegal. Gabriel lives in a difficult general economic context: the unemployment rate in Senegal stands at 21.9 percent as of the 4th quarter of 2022, and the average income per month is FCFA 124,618 (USD 207.78) at the same point in time. But this seems not to have prevented him from making his mark: Gabriel defines himself as a “bespoke artist,” his art being that of stenciling manga characters on sports shoes, T-shirts, denim jackets, gaming consoles, and joysticks, to each customer's specification. This video dispatch from Brut Afrique illustrates the work Gabriel undertakes to highlight his talent as a bespoke artist. Screenshot from Brut Afrique of Gabriel Gabs Abens in his studio. Fair use. Curious to enter into his universe, to share his concept and the opportunities this innovation in Senegal's art world offers, Global Voices chatted with the artist. Jean Sovon (JS): What is your concept? Gabriel Gabs Abens (GGA): L’idée m’est venu des mangas japonais. Je me suis inspiré des personnages de ces films animés que tout le monde aime aujourd’hui pour donner un aspect unique à chaque objet que je customise. L’idée derrière est de rendre unique chaque produit de sorte qu’on ne le voit nulle part ailleurs. Gabriel Gabs Abens (GGA): The idea came to me from Japanese mangas. I've been inspired by the characters in these animations which everyone loves nowadays to give a unique look to every item I customize. The idea behind it is to make each product unique, so that you can't see it anywhere else. JS: What is your creative process? GGA: Je recopie des personnages qui existent déjà et à cela, j’ajoute mes touches personnelles pour rendre unique le produit fini. Étant donné qu’il y a beaucoup de fans dans le monde entier, qui sont désireux d’avoir des objets personnalisés à l’effigie de leurs personnages préférées dans les mangas, c’est à ce moment que j’interviens. Je remets juste sur ces objets les personnages préférées des fans. GGA : I copy existing characters, and to that I add my personal touches to make the final product unique. Given that there are many fans across the world, keen to have personalized items in the image of their favorite manga characters, and that's just where I come in. I put the fans’ favorite characters right on to these items. JS: How did you discover Japanese manga and why have you made it a major source of inspiration? GGA: La découverte a été très simple. Mais d’abord, j’ai commencé par dessiner à l’âge de 8 ans: mon premier dessin n’était pas un manga mais un bat-man. En regardant la télévision, je suis tombé amoureux de cela. Mais en grandissant, j’ai vu un peu partout que ça se faisait surtout en Europe où des gens personnalisent des objets sur la base de ce qu’ils aiment faire, leur passion. Ainsi, je me suis lancé mais à force de dessiner sur le papier, je me suis dit, pourquoi ne pas essayer un autre support que le papier. Dans mes recherches sur internet, j’ai vu un autre gars qui faisait cela sur des chaussures. Je me suis renseigné sur tout ce qu’il fallait pour le custom, et c’est là que tout a commencé GGA : The discovery was very simple. But first, I started off drawing at the age of eight: my first design wasn't manga but Batman. While watching television, I fell in love with that. But, growing up, I saw all over the place that this was happening, especially in Europe, where people personalize items based on what they love to do, on their passion. So, I made a start, but, after a while drawing on paper, I asked myself, why not try a medium other than paper? In my researches on the internet, I saw another guy doing this on shoes. I found out everything it took to work bespoke, and everything started from that.