South African artist Lionel Smit is world-renowned for his incredible, colorful facial sculptures and portraiture. He spoke to Upscale Living magazine about his love for his trade and the freedom to create whatever it is he wants to form.
Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am an artist based in Cape Town, working in various mediums like sculpture, painting, drawing, print making and video.

When and how did your journey as an artist begin"

My father is a sculptor, so I grew up in the surroundings of art making and I was constantly involved in my father?s studio from a very young age.
Needless to say, this environment rubbed off onto me and inspired me to be an artist. I went to a secondary school of arts, where I started focusing primarily on painting and print making.  After school, I took over one of my father?s studios and started working, which then led to me arranging my own exhibitions. You do sculptures and portraiture. Talk us through the different techniques you apply as well as the materials you use.

After I left school, I focused solely on painting for ten years, developing my style in mostly figurative work. Ten years on, I revisited the idea of sculpture and re-appropriated my iconography that I had created in painting into sculpture and other mediums. I mainly work from models and photographs. I paint oil on canvas, oil on linen and enjoy sculpting in clay. When I started working in a monumental size, I enjoyed the abstract quality that developed on ...