The Guy Who Tells Funny Bible Stories With Animation

If you are an avid TikTok user, you must have seen short animation skits of Jesus lashing a “fufu seller” and “Mary Magdalene” for selling in the temple. You may also have come across Judas receiving an alert from “KJV Bank” for his role in Jesus’ arrest. There is also Jesus calling a whale to swallow Jonah because he refused to go to Nineveh. A personal favorite is the story of David and Jonathan. Our Creative Digest features Nigeria’s Content Creator, Israel Obasola.

Israel Obasola, also known as Isrealthecreator, is a creative animator, illustrator, and scriptwriter known for creative viral animation content. He is passionate about art, storytelling, and, most especially, superheroes! His love for superheroes and their representation has greatly shaped his thought patterns. Israel’s love for animation began when he first watched “cartoons” and tried drawing his favorite characters. “Eventually, I started telling my own stories with my original character.”

Israel Obasola

The Nigerian animator, once a graphic designer and a technical support officer at a software company, went into full-time content creation during the lockdown. Others' creativity and consistency in testing their limits have always inspired Israel to create and contribute to art culture, especially in Nigeria. So he transitioned from traditional to digital art and, finally, into animation.

What’s more, the young creative sings and plays the guitar, skills that have transcended into his videos. For instance, a video of David and Jonathan singing affectionately to each other, Thomas singing his disbelief in Jesus’ resurrection, and different types of men confessing their feelings to a lady.

His style of comedy is simple, relatable, and African, and he always aims to spread joy, laughter, creativity, and freedom. In turn, the creator has recorded many followers, with many of his videos gaining high views. On Instagram, a video about how impractical Superman’s disguise would have been in Nigeria gained a high viewership. On TikTok, it’s the video about the “bro code” in the men’s urinal; on Twitter, it’s the one about a woman popularly known as mummy G.O narrating her experience with Lucifer, and on YouTube, it’s his animated series titled ORISA: Prince Kori, a homage to the ancestral folklore stories.

ORISA

Furthermore, he works with fintech startups PiggyVest and Dropp as their content creator, illustrator, animator, and scriptwriter. He hopes to create more content, an animated feature film, an expanded universe from his animated series, take African animation to international borders, and secure as many collaborations as possible.