Yaoundé (AFP)

The scribbled lines, the imperfect pencil strokes ... Cameroonian Félix Fokoua flips through his first sketchbook with nostalgia.

Today, his electronic tablet and his computer have become the essential tools for the exercise of his art.

At 29, crowned with several international awards, he made his mark in Cameroon, where he notably designed the mascot for the next African Cup of Nations (CAN) football organized in January 2022 in his country, and is starting to make himself know abroad.

"It would not have been possible without digital technology," he told AFP.

Many young Cameroonian artists interviewed say that this tool allowed them to get started professionally and broadened their vision of the world.

Then he began to take an interest in creation in his country.

He draws, progresses, makes contact with creators.

No question of using tablets yet, they are almost impossible to find and are very expensive in Cameroon at the beginning of the 2010s.

- Create to entertain -

It was through an uncle in France that he obtained one.

Quickly, he was recruited by Kiro'o Games, the first video game studio in Cameroon, barely created.

Félix learns to use his mouse and his imagination to create new settings and characters.

Then he set up on his own and started digital illustration, "with the idea of ​​promoting African culture".

"When I started, I was always told to go see NGOs, to explain malaria, AIDS, that annoyed me! I wanted above all to entertain," he explains.

Félix Fokoua exhibits his works mainly on the web, Facebook and Instagram.

He receives private orders, most of them from abroad.

View of the Kiro'o Games video game studio in Yaoundé, Cameroon, July 15, 2021 Adrien MAROTTE AFP

He also created a series of digital "stickers" representing Cameroonian culture for Whatsapp and Telegram instant messengers.

Little by little, his network is expanding, his earnings are increasing and large African companies such as the telecommunications groups MTN and Camtel, or the online commerce platform Jumia, are calling on him.

"In Africa, artists have everything to create with new rules, a world to reinvent, a new culture to develop," he enthuses.

For Nicanor Tatchim, teacher-researcher at the University of Lille (France), "a new economic model is emerging" with "new digitized practices of production, distribution and + publicization + of content".

However, "the authorities in Cameroon have included digital technology in the field of industrial development" to the detriment of the cultural industry, analyzes Mr. Tatchim.

"The proof: the question of digital innovation is carried by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and not the Ministry of Arts and Culture".

- Promising future -

Hugues Bertrand Biboum, artistic director of Waanda Stoudio, a graphic design and publishing studio in Yaoundé, admits that "the transformation of the sector is very favorable" and that "international demand is increasing" for African digital products.

But he also deplores the government's lack of interest and support.

"The future of the sector is promising," adds Olivier Madiba, founder and director of Kiro'o Games, based in the capital.

"But Cameroon has a huge technical and human delay in producing works that meet the spectator's requirements".

"Netflix or Disney realize that the future of streaming expansion is in Africa. So they have an interest in having targeted content for local audiences. But we have to be able to deliver the quality that these companies demand," pleads Mr. Madiba.

Young Cameroonians work on the design of video games for the company Kiro'o Games in Yaoundé, Cameroon, July 15, 2021 Adrien MAROTTE AFP

"Digital technology and creativity are the key words of the future, particularly in Africa, which is entering its phase of economic development," says Mr. Tatchim.

However, Cameroon, led by the irremovable Paul Biya, 88 years old including nearly 39 years in power, "is caught between the injunctions to the digitization of the economy on the part of the institutions and the socio-political realities" of the country , according to him.

In 2017, the authorities had notably cut the internet for several months in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, which are home to many digital start-ups, to contain the separatist crisis which has degenerated into a conflict that has killed more than 3,500 people for four years.

© 2021 AFP