CHAPTER 17: CREATIVE PROCESSES AND TECHNIQUES IN A NEW GRAPHIC LITERATURE ON THE NIGERIA/BIAFRA WAR

Abstract

INTRODUCTION 
Between 2016 and 2023, Chidiebere Onwuekwe embarked on his doctoral journey in the Nsukka Art School. He pursued a PhD in Fine Art and Design which is a new programme in the school.
Apart from the dissertation report, the findings of his reseach birthed a one hundred and forty-page graphic novel on the Nigeria/Biafra conflict. The work focused on Achuzia’s exploits as a Biafran Militia and Army officer. Soon after the approval his research topic entitled “A graphic novel of Joseph Achuzia’s Exploits in Nigeria/Biafra War, 1967 to 1970, and with the approval of his supervisor, he embarked on his first field trip to the War Museum in Umuahia where he did an achiaval research. 
He went into a stretching literature review on the conflict. Again, Onwuekwe conducted oral interviews on selected survivors of the War. With these endeavours successfully completed, he redeployed  the data in the studio and worked on comic script, forming a storyline for the work. 
The main problem of the research arose as a result of a lack of attention to making print and electronic graphic literature of Nigeria/Biafra niches by Nigerian comic book Artists, and that Achuzia’s exploits have never been considered to be recreated as a Graphic literature (Onwuekwe, 2023:4). This is so because most Nigerian artists focus mainly on African Superheroes that do not differ much from western comic heroes. 
For data and fact gathering, the scholar used literature review, oral interview and filed trip to War museum in umuahia. 
During ideation and concept development, he studied war-niche movies, war photos from online archives and made preliminary sketches according to the story. The processes went as follows: pencilling, colouring with Manga Studio application, Page layout design (Onwuekwe, 2023:44) 
At the end of the research, a one hundred and forty-page colour booklet was produced after a rigorous procedure. The work titled “Hannibal of theSun Country” is the first graphic novel of Nigeria/Biafra War niche. 
Thus, this chapter identifies and discusses of the various creative processes applied by the the artist in arriving at a full colour graphic novel at the end of  his programme.