For Nigerian digital artist and illustrator Fanen Tile, popularly known as Kay the Animator, character design is an opportunity to explore personality, expression, and storytelling through drawing. His work moves between original characters, stylised portraits, fan art, and traditional sketching, bringing together bold compositions, expressive line work, and vibrant colours. From imagined heroes to illustrations inspired by Nigerian music and popular culture, Fanen enjoys reinterpreting familiar subjects while developing characters of his own. His portfolio also reveals a strong interest in the fundamentals of drawing, with sketchbook studies, ink illustrations, and colour experiments appearing alongside completed digital pieces. Together, these works reflect an artist exploring how different visual styles and techniques can give his characters distinctive identities.

Much of Fanen's work draws inspiration from music, entertainment, and the personalities shaping contemporary Nigerian culture. His illustrations of rapper Blaqbonez capture the artist's recognisable persona through exaggerated character styling and references to his music. In one piece inspired by Blaqbonez's Big Performer, Fanen incorporates the song's playful lyrics into an illustrated tribute, while another references the rapper's familiar expression, "Nike everything correct." He has also created fan art inspired by singer Khaid and his song Wacko, bringing the same energetic approach to portraying another contemporary musician. These projects demonstrate Fanen's interest in translating musical identities into illustrated characters, combining recognisable references with his own interpretation of the artists. His work has also attracted attention from creative platforms, including LSTV, which highlighted his ability to rework familiar subjects through illustration.

Beyond portraits of established personalities, Fanen develops original characters and independent illustrations that explore different aspects of visual storytelling. Projects such as The Betrayer, God Aura, Byguns, and Molo reflect his interest in creating figures with distinct appearances and implied narratives. In one series of posts, he shares the process of designing an original character, moving between early sketches and more developed illustrations. His Commander Emeka character also has a dedicated collection on his Instagram profile, suggesting a continuing interest in building characters beyond individual drawings. These projects allow Fanen to experiment with clothing, poses, facial expressions, and colour palettes, exploring how visual decisions can communicate a character's personality before any story is told. His illustrations often resemble character concepts that could belong to larger animated worlds, comics, or other forms of visual storytelling.

Fanen's commitment to sketching is another important part of his creative practice. Alongside his finished digital illustrations, he regularly shares ink drawings, anatomical studies, colour exercises, and collections of unfinished sketches. In one post, he describes sketching as something that helps him stay sane, offering a glimpse into the personal importance of drawing beyond producing completed artwork. His ink illustration project, A Story in Ink, and his series Kay's Skulls demonstrate his willingness to experiment with different subjects and approaches. He also shares value studies, practice sketches, and comparisons between unfinished and completed work, sometimes inviting his audience to identify which drawings remain sketches. These exercises reveal the attention he gives to understanding form, proportion, shading, and composition, while allowing viewers to follow the different stages involved in developing his illustrations.

Throughout his portfolio, Fanen presents artistic growth as an ongoing process rather than something measured only by finished projects. In one reflection, he questions whether he will ever outgrow his imperfections enough to erase his beginnings, expressing an attachment to the early stages of his creative development. This perspective is visible in the way he documents both his accomplishments and his practice, giving unfinished drawings as much room as completed illustrations. His work has been featured in community showcases, including Purp Kulture's Artistic Weekend, which introduced audiences to the artist behind his illustrations. While his interests continue to develop across character design, digital painting, and animation-inspired artwork, Fanen remains committed to experimenting, drawing regularly, and building on what he has learned. His portfolio offers a record of that progression, showing how curiosity, consistent practice, and an interest in storytelling continue to shape the characters he creates.