We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tafadzwa Shumba a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tafadzwa, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I considered art as a career while I was still in high school, abd that usually never goes down well with African parents. Soon after high school I was on my own financially,since I didn’t want to go to University like they hoped I would.

I had to go on and get a job at a restaurant so that I could save up money for my art materials as well as money to attend a comic book convention, as I felt like a convention would give me a good start in terms of networking opportunities. I would work at the restaurant for 2 years(the plan was 1 year but things didn’t go accordingly).

Late 2018 I started working on my manga series, publishing online on Webtoon. It was tedious work and I realised I couldn’t keep up with my job. I had saved enough money so January 2019 I quit my job and decided I’d be a full time artist, despite the fact that at that time I wasn’t making any money from art.

April 2019 I attended FanCon Cape Town Comic Con as an exhibitor, and that’s when I launched the very first physical copies of my manga. That gave me some visibility but I was not yet there. I managed to meet some industry professionals like Brian Steelfreeze(Black Panther) and Sana Takeda(Monstress) who gave me some inspiring advice.

September the same year, I went on to attend Comic Con Africa in Joburg. Here it was along some of my peers and colleagues, as well as Bill Masuku, the guy I looked up to. At CCA I got to expand my network, and Bill introduced me to Kelan Gerriety the founder of Sera Blue Publishing. A month down the line I’d close a deal to adapt one of the Sera Blue novels into a graphic novel. This was my first publishing deal, and as much as the pandemic got in the way and the book was cancelled, Sera Blue and Kelan Gerriety gave me a starting chance.

After all that I went on to work with international authors and publishers over the years. Some of the authors I’ll give an honourable mention are Jed McPherson(UK) and Writing West Midlands’ Annabel Brightling(UK). I also got to work with publishers and companies like Altruist Comics(Canada), Triggerfish Animation Studios(South Africa), Etan Comics(Ethiopia), Rowland Publishing(US), The British Council, PositiveNegatives(UK) and Alliance Francaise amongst others.

It’s been a tough journey and yes it has its ups and downs, but earning a full time living as an artist is very much possible.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a comic book writer/artist, storyboard artist and a character designer. I go by the pen name T. S. ZOMBiE. The name is associated with the kind of stories I tend to focus on. I specialize in writing and drawing stories with darker themes that you may find in thriller horror crime and mystery comic books. However I do like to challenge myself and delve into other genres as well.

I’m an artist who tends to prefer having creative freedom when working on a project. I want the client to have faith in my creativity and allow me to sometimes make necessary changes to the script that is more suited to comics. That does mean I also allow the client/writer to have a say in the art as well.

To date, I’d say the one thing im happy about is the amount of work I’ve put out in the last few years of my career. We are talking, 14 different comic book and graphic novel titles, with some internationally published. My proudest work though, is my crime thriller manga series, titled PARADOX, that I’ve been working on since 2019. It has 3 volumes and I’m working on the final volume of the series.

I’m honored to have worked on projects with international names like Annabel Brightling(UK), Jed McPherson (UK), George Withers(US) amongst others. I’ve also worked with companies and organizations like, Triggerfish Animation Studios(South Africa) , Etan Comics(Ethiopia), Rowland Publishing(US), The British Council, PositiveNegatives(UK), AfroTokyo(Zimbabwe) as well as Kay Media Africa (Zimbabwe).

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It’s getting to tell the stories I want to tell, and having someone who wants to listen. Nowadays creatives are forced to tell stories a certain way, try to please everyone and depart from their original vision.

No story is for everyone. Every story has its specific audience and demographic. So being able to tell the stories I want to tell without compromise and still having an audience for that is rewarding for me. I don’t have to sell millions of copies of my comic to be proud of what I do. The few people who buy my comics and are invested in the story make it worthwhile to keep on going with my work.

The other rewarding aspect is satisfied clients. This always makes my day/year, being able to work on a client’s project and leaving them very happy and satisfied with the job I did. As I always say, a happy client is a happy artist.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal is to be one of the pioneers of mature themed comics in Southern Africa. When we talk about comics, it’s normally superhero and action packed comics that are popular and recognized. That doesn’t mean that genres like horror and thriller have no audience, the audience exists.

Horror comics also do deserve recognition and the limelight. As controversial as the genre is in Africa, it needs to be normalized and popularized. And I want to go down in history as one of the people who were bold enough to do so.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstation.com/ts_zombie
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ts__zombie
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ts.zombie
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tafadzwa-eddie-shumba