From the category archives:

Illustration

Caricature: Tribute to Naji al-Ali

August 29, 2007 Art

My interest in the art of caricatures was sparked in the early 90s when I noticed this interesting little scrawny cartoon guy in an old al-Safeer newspaper. It was Palestinian artist Naji al-Ali’s daily caricature depicting the ravages of the Lebanese war with his signature Handala character. That drawing with its simple lines and minimalist [...]

Illustration: Lebanation

August 11, 2006 Art

If you’ve ever heard of Lebanon, chances are you’re familiar with this country’s contentious history. To describe Lebanon in few words, I would say it’s a boiling cauldron of sour soup with sweet bits floating all over it. There is plenty of good here and there, but it’s all surrounded by hate, bigotry, vengeance and [...]

Caricature: Middle East Blues

March 18, 2006 Art

2006 was a tough year, on personal and global level, notwithstanding the Israel-Hezbollah War and the resulting carnage and destruction, and in these dark times I did several caricature drawings releasing my feelings towards the Middle-East and the never-ending conflicts there.

Here are six of those focusing on the Iraqi invasion and its infighting, Gaza blockade, [...]

Illustration: Childhood Inspiration

November 10, 2004 Art

It’s quite strange where artistic inspiration emanates from, and in my case it is a tiny charcoal portrait of my young mother, which was drawn somewhere in the Soviet Union when she was a teenager.

This little discarded portrait laid in our family albums for decades untouched, until one random day, I picked it up and [...]

Design & Illustration: Poetry Book

December 10, 2002 Art

A very dear childhood friend of mine had a thing for words and poetry, which I encouraged and supported, pushing him towards writing while I critiqued and provided pointers. And for a couple of teenagers, this pursuit was nothing short of a major accomplishment!

Two years later, and 34 poems in, I offered to design the [...]

Illustration: Pastel Studies – Van Gogh

September 11, 2002 Art

While studying color theories, I experimented with pastel media and did several studies based on famous oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. Here’s a couple of these inspired studies:

“The Starry Night” study (1889) Oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh “Reaper” (1889) Oil on canvas by Vincent van [...]

Illustration: Colored Pencil Studies

July 14, 2002 Art

During my early college years we were assigned to experiment with all major drawing and coloring medias, and the one I indulged most was the colored pencil format. Here are few of my favorite works and reproductions:

Tools used: Colored Pencils, Pencil

Illustration: “Sitting Nude” – Mixed Media

June 17, 2002 Art

I’m an admirer of French artist Hippolyte Flandrin and his life-long struggle breaking into the elite art scene in 19th century France. Flandrin’s work was the result of hard work, constant training, technique improvement and pure perseverance — something rarely seen or practiced by artists these days.

“Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer” [...]

Illustration: Watercolor Studies

April 10, 2002 Art

Let me just say this first: painting with watercolors requires some amazing skills!

I’ve tried every medium there is and yet watercolor remains as the toughest one to master. Below are few examples of my watercolor studies:

Tools used: Watercolors and brushes.

Illustration: Anglo-Saxon Ornate Letters

October 25, 2001 Art

Here’s a secret: drawing typography is not as fun as typing it!

That’s one of the things that I learned while studying Pre-Press and Graphic Design in the Institut Universitaire Kafaat, and I’m glad I did. We were assigned to choose two favorite letters for this project, and naturally I went for my initials. Next day, [...]

Illustration: Random Ol’Bits

August 16, 2001 Art

Here’s a batch of my random illustration bits from the early days (read ancient):

Tools used: Pencil, charcoal, colored pencils and crayons.

Illustration: Khalil Gibran Tri-Panel

July 25, 2001 Art

As a proud Lebanese, I have a special interest in our Diaspora across the world the generations of talented individuals sprung from it. A well known example of this is Khalil Gibran, an extraordinary Lebanese American artist, poet, writer and philosopher, and a personal inspiration to my work and view of aesthetics in life.

Here’s a short biography from [...]

Illustration: “View of Venice” Study

March 10, 2000 Art

I believe that traditional black ink is to illustration as blood is to our veins, it’s basic, essential and irreplaceable. That said, my favorite ink hobbies is creating ultra-detailed ink representation from old etching scenes. Case in point: Canaletto’s “Imaginary View of Venice”.

Here’s what the Met Museum has to say about this 18th century etching:

Venice [...]

Design: Horoscope Symbols

September 30, 1999 Art

A quick post from my ancient Kafaat College dossier, showcasing an early project focusing on designing and refining four horoscope symbols using traditional media, and yes, no computers were allowed.

While the design was nothing stellar, I did learn how to refine a more elaborate illustration into a tight, well rounded logo. Plus the earlier typographic [...]

Design: Typographic Illustration

September 15, 1999 Art

Ever tried drawing large scale straight letters without using a computer or stencils?

Well, here’s some examples of my old-school training in traditional typography and illustration during my years in al-Kafaat College. The samples below include a basic Latin lettering, a candy store poster, a traditional Arabic “Ramadan Greetings” postcard design and a personal logo.

All these [...]

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