Small talk series: Creative Entrepreneurship

I had a very interesting conversation with a successful self-made Dubai businessman a couple of days ago. Every statement he made was something thoughtful for serious/aspiring business people.

With this interesting "title" (hilariously coined by him) cautioning me to look out for (I totally have encountered such individuals too in my career). He calls them "Catalogue Technicians".... Defined as people who are very good with technical terminologies/has bookish knowledge, who gets all too savvy theoretically by studying a manual, whereas in practice knows nothing yet puts undue pressure on the service provider to deliver with perfection, does not allow any creative freedom and holds the creative provider on a leash, demanding a fabulous job.

Who is representing whom?? ARTE

It is the 2nd month of the Art Season in Dubai with @ARTE back in full swing this time too.

Oops! This is no place to help recession recover!

My visit yesterday to the festival was one to cherish as it was an opportunity to connect with local Artists. An excellent pool of Fine Artists, Jewelry makers, paper crafts men etc. I use the word pool because there were so many of them.

Arte is a good place for new artists to showcase themselves but if they are thinking of selling their works they better sell only their prints or duplicates because nobody wants to spend more than $25 dollars for any piece. That too a weekend family-crowd who wants to get handicrafts and artworks at throw-away prices. It was interesting to notice, crowds gather in front of artists' tables if the offer is free or next to nothing. So if one wants to give away for goodwill purposes this is the place to be. These days it is so over-crowded with artist-participations that some are provided showcase-space wherever there is a pillar in the mall however far it is from the perimeter of the main fair. Too bad the last time I was allocated space it was a sad location I wouldn't want to mention here. But I was okay as I was not there to sell but to network with fellow-artists. All said and done that became my last presence there.

But what if an artist is there counting on selling some pieces to make a living!? O dear! Talk about treating art lesser than a commodity. My take is that it does not benefit the artist but the organization facilitating such an event who charges $75 approximately to artists who want to display their works for a max of 3-5 hours....and the public who visit a typical flea-market/garage sale scenario.

In horror I also noticed that I seemed to be one of the few or the only person around there holding an authorized license to practice and showcase my work. Wow!!

And so I decided this is not a place for a licensed artist to showcase among 150 or more artists most of whom have no license to practice and are doing this as part-time and who have still been given a platform to conduct business, paying 20 times less than I am to just exist here as an artist.  If the proceeds went for a noble cause I am game for this.....else what is the message here? Something to ponder upon. Really to ponder upon in this age where our young ones have to college-graduate really well to make a living in art in order to get competitive. When the rules of the game is not only to have talent but to be university educated to pull some serious strings.

New Fine Art Showcase Blog launched

It is my pleasure to announce my new fine arts blog. I am looking forward to having regular updates here about my fine art related activities.

Am @ ARTE this time.

Wow! what a day for my internet connection to disappear on me!


Now that it's sporadically back. Let me make a post to all of you who are here in Sunny UAE and in Dubai so you can take a detour on your way to your weekend niceties to visit an Artisan's Market.

Everything Hand-made!  by "Artisans of the Emirates". Being a Dubai-based artist qualifies me to take part.
:o)
The Art Fest season is back here in Dubai and I am so looking forward to taking part....more so because I am quite curious about the turn-over to visit this fest. And also because I am going to launch my new live-art project....making art interactively with my audience with a twist. I will also be having just a handful of my canvas paintings for sale at the Souq-rates. :o)

ARTE is going to be held tomorrow the 7th Sept. at IKEA festival city between 12 noon and 9 pm.

Perhaps you could print-out the flyer here and keep for your reference when stepping out into the city.

Before I stop.... I must give my respects to my Winsor and Newton Fan Brush which has (like today) stayed by me to save my day for many years now.

What painting is complete without finishing it off with the Fan Brush? 

The No. 5 Fan brush helped me happily complete all my paintings this week with a much satisfactory touch to finally let me name it before I send it in for my final display.

I recommend that a fan brush is a "must have" for every artist. So what are you waiting for. Go get one and experience the shear enjoyment of taming your paints on your canvas.

See you back here after the ARTE fest. Will try to capture some snap shots to post here.

What is Entertainment Art?

There are 2 types of Entertainment Artists:

1. The Traditional/Digital Live Artist who entertains an audience 'live' where there is an immediate gratification leaving both the entertainer and entertained in a win-win situation.

This Entertainment Artist is an artist who is in the truest sense a 'traditional artist' who makes drawings/sketches in the presence of a live audience. He/she who purely uses pencils, paints, pastels etc. on paper, canvas or wood respectively.

Like you see here my very talented Live Entertainment Artist friend "A renowned Italian Humorist Roberto Mangosi making one of his enjoyable art performances to an audience in Rome:

 

The picture below is from one of my small performances yesterday at a Dubai BNI meeting (part of my 60 sec. pitch) with their Regional Director Mr. Bijay Shah who accepted the honor of being my audience-participant to help in the making of my quick live caricature. 

My Live Art is a bit different where I allow any member of the audience who wishes to volunteer to participate in my performance to demonstrate the fact that there is an "Artist Gene" in every human being where anyone who may think he or she does not have it in him/her "the artist material" at the end of the show will indeed be pleased they were able to contribute in the making of a drawing worthy of a display-piece.

 
2. The Entertainment Artist who creates works to Entertain an Audience via media, by way of Animated Films, Commercials, Short Stories where there is a certain amount of rehearsal. This is not a live performance and hence the gratification happens once it is released to a wide audience.

Here the artist is one who relies on digital tools too but has advanced traditional skills to use these tools so that with these skill-sets flourishes into visual development artists, art directors, character designers, environment designers, production designers, or any of the other plethora of designers in the entertainment community (these entertainment art positions as quoted on laafa.org).

Funny I did not realize all through my journey as a Creative.... Right from my first job as an animator in the early 90s I was wanting to carve myself a niche as an "Entertainment artist" forgetting the fact that I was already one, many years ago.

All my life I have anyway been asked to perform making portraits and caricature at parties....getting little time to actually do the typical childhood playtime pranks. That became very a convenient escape from any emotional hassles if I had to deal with any in the growing stressful world we live in. Entertainment Artists have a blessing to get into their own blissful world of illusion which they create with their pencils.

Pleased to see you again on my posts. Be back in a while with some more food for artistic thought.

A Disgruntled Designer whose Passion is Art

Hello again this is my typical art-space when I practice my dearest passions.

However....

For the first time I am stepping out of this rosy-rosy world I would like myself to always stay as an artist to voice out my 2 cents so as to request real Artists .... "Please don't contribute to the world of Starving Artists."?!

Just an hour ago I was taken aback by a sad statement made by an associate who should be a mediator to put designers at a better wicket....entertaining clients to conduct business by unpaid designs in order to help kickstart a proposal. I decide not to quote anything from his words because I am still an active member of the industry.

I am glad my niche keeps me safe from this kind of batter-y!! I guess. But thanks to such shockers, it encourages me to take some action....Diversification has continued to be my main soup for a while now and I don't regret it.

In the past couple of years, though I am humbled by the fact that fans for my art have grown... astronomical have been the requests for free or pro-bono work I have received. If people love art they must want to pay for it, right? If people love an artist's music they must want to pay for that goodwill. Then...How so, is it not?!

In 2012 alone, I have received the following asks-for-free: 

• 26 requests for free work from the general public. (2 I could afford to do.)
• 4 free requests from friends and relatives (1-1/2 of which I could afford to do.)
• 4 free requests from live new clients wanting to test Design skills unpaid manhours.
• 3 free requests of logo-design/redesign stating "this should be a child's-play for you a pro".
• 2 free requests to do concepts for pitches absolutely free with no payment guarantee.
• 2 requests for charity. (1 I did for a deserving cause.)

Don't these good Samaritans in search of free-to-work-artists ever think that authorized artists are doing this job for a living? After the job is perfectly done after tens of changes, then...artists have to worry about a a disappearance-without-paying-act which happens all too often whether large corporates or not unless held by strong legal papers. Where there is no jurisdiction ever covering artists....Where is the answer to that?!

My take!

Now hasn't the whole world got an over-dose of hitech art, animation etc etc. and pleasure of watching it at down-to-earth prices or no rates. Thanks to the fancy words of crowd-sourcing, 99designs, elance etc etc.

As we speak.... there are many animators even in Hollywood out of jobs for a very long time. So those who have jobs let's count our blessings but realize this is not a blessing in disguise...it's time to find better blessings :o) A Hollywood animation studio is getting 70% of their animators filled by students who they will not pay a cent. The Students' incentive is that they get to work in a Hollywood Studio. The business house's incentive is? They have 70% of their animators working for free. 

Dear Design students - after your 2-year free work experience with your ex-Hollywood Studio employee certificate, what salary-scales would you new animators' community ever get? Congrats! you would have officially set your bar so low that you have made the whole global design community a commodity.

My take!!

Art & Design & Animation with computer tools coming of age is now taken for granted that.... nobody has the time to differentiate between quality or mediocre work. Unfortunately for true artists! You may want to take the red carpet march out rather than be ushered in... while you still have the spirit.

Perhaps you could do well building your own gallery and housing your pieces in it.

My take!!!

... to people who are truly passionate about doing art (this maybe a "Note to self" too to constantly keep nudging me back to reality) is to just keep it as your passion "FOREVER". The moment you depend on art alone to make a living....the way things are panning out!? You don't want to hate your passions... do you? That would be killing your own spirit!! FOREVER.

I would be glad to hear your thoughts too. Before I stop may I ask of one thing.... do not be in a hurry to make judgements yet... we may not generalize and make inferences based upon this post for.... 

I am just throwing these pointers your way to ruminate upon. It is still a hypothesis as it still depends upon the Art of the Artist to handle such ugliness to come out of it in handsome colors. But until then the Artist must have strong options to fall back on.

Thank you again for sharing my thoughts.

Poetry Scintillates Visual Imagination

This Illustration... below... is one of my latest children's illustrations which I made for an an Abu Dhabi-based Poetess for her very special Kids Poem "An Angel without Wings."

Copyright Notification: The Illustration and Poem are strictly copyright protected respectively to Remy Francis for the Illustration and  the Poet and may not be copied or found anywhere else. 

I learnt the pleasure of listening to poems way back in primary school when I was called in as the kid in class to visualize poems covered in every term. 

Being a crazy artaholic, I was only too pleased to share my visual imagination with my fellow classmates and have the pictures hang in my classroom all year round. These paintings were replicated out of poems from English Romantic Poets such as William Wordsworth's The Solitary Reaper, John Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci et cetera and even pictures that came out of some unforgettable Non-de-tail sessions. 

I have my 5th grade teacher Mrs. John to thank for giving me this very special grounding in art & studies, which may have played an important part in rescuing me from the clutches of a point-less Exam-focussed learning system. A system which made me in later university days to not opt (for what would have been an amazing move) Astronomy (for the worst reason that I would not win high grades with it) over a subject titled "Linear Programming". Although this won me a centum in grading it has played to be of no use in any form in my career or life today. 

Getting back to the actual motivator for my making this post....

....how an organised method of utilitarian visualization makes me still relive some very famous poems taught to me in elementary school as if it happened today, with the same strength of freshness as when it was introduced to me more than 20 years ago.

Thank you once again for coming by!

Sharing my art - Online custom-gift stores

Hello there Readers

Here are some stores I have just opened to be able to order customized gifts and to be shipped from Zazzle right to our doorstep.

We here in Dubai just came back from a months break in business which meant a month of rumination, clarifying spirits and essentially getting back to business with a fresh start. It was a time for positive reflection, catching up with old lost connections and everyone counting on their blessings.

I took this valuable time to build-up my online presence further and am pleased to have opened a few of my online stores where anyone can get articles with prints of original art never seen before.

So here it is. Thank you for stopping by!

Thanks to Google for their doodles!!

I woke up to another pleasant day and found yet another amazing animated doodle from Google...So interactive that everyone at home could get into the Olympic groove: Happy London 2012!!



Thanks to their link, hey readers look at what I found.... for your viewing pleasure!!

How lovely would it be to get involved in the Google doodle campaigns! Lucky is the person who gets paid to do this! Would be such a pleasure too, to doodle based upon the region. Or does the doodles from Google already exist region-specific!!? Let me find out...I'll post my findings real soon. More soon!

Acrylic Speed painting

I made this little sparrow clasping onto cherries, following my previous post when I had the creative breeze pass by. Thanks to the Acrylic Paints I captured the mood.

Acrylic Colours - a magic medium for Artists

Acrylic Colours first arrived in the art scene in 1962 when they were called Standard Formula. These paints are quite thick in a buttery consistency just like oil colours. Hence it was mainly for palette knife work and is good to build up a terrific amount of relief work called Impasto.

The advantage of acrylics over oils is that oils take months to dry but acrylic paints take only a few hours even if it is applied in thick amounts.

In addition to using palette knives , brushes may also be used.

Then came an excellent extension to the Standard Formula stable matte called Flow Formula. This is better to use with the brush. However it takes a bit longer to dry than the Standard Formula.

I use a retarder where I can in order to slow the drying process if I want to make a long drawn painting where I may not be able to cope with the quick-drying typical of acrylic paints. A paste called Texture Paste could be used for building heavy Impasto.

Nylon brushes of very high quality is best for acrylic. The Stay-wet palette was introduced to keep paint wet indefinitely which was such a breakthrough and helped save paint from drying quickly.

There is a magic in using Acrylic Paints for a creatively charged artist.
Acrylic Paint facilitates creating a painting right at the moment when the artist gets that urge. Such a painting has more value as it is made with more meaning with uninterrupted and truthful expression of feelings on the canvas.

Another advantage is that as soon as you have made the whole composition and you need to work over, you could immediately start from the other side of the painting without any fear of the under-painting getting in the way as by now it is safely dry.

Thus a painting can be created by the artist filled with inspiration rather than be controlled by having to wait for the paint to get dry like in the oil painting process, where the initial emotion is not the same as when the artist has come back to it in a day or two.

With acrylic, a piece started by (say) the evening hours could easily be completed by nightfall.

Artist's Acrylic colours are made of the same pigments used in Oil Colours. Instead of the pigment in drying oil or water soluble as in watercolours, these semi-permanent pigments come in a transparent, water emulsion of acrylic polymer resin.

Sorry for the technical terminologies, but this is an interesting fact to understand so we see how valuable acrylic paintings are actually.

The term polymer means joining together small molecules called monomers into lengthy chemical chains which form plastic materials. These convert into milky white, water emulsions which will dry as a crystal clear film once the water has evaporated.

That's about it on the tech art talk. I found this interesting to think about when I was pulling out my acrylic material to make a quick painting.

I hope it was informative to you as it was for me refreshing my memory of yet another amazing medium of art.

Will be back soon with another flavour of art and creatives. Pleased to see you here ! Happy Painting!!

An Artist from the Animal Kingdom - Should we be worried for the right reasons?

As an independent who seeks to thrive in an ever-growing competition of today... a look at this video amuses me!

Should I worry that this guy here has a better niche following than some of us? Or worry about who is making this a niche market which surely should be lucrative not for the artist.

Just a couple of days ago one of my associates were mentioning about these amazing artists with their skills in Thailand. That would be a painting made by an Elephant.

Today as I was making my routine weekend Google of a few pending research topics, I was amazed to come across this Elephant guy make this piece ... which looked like a piece of art (to humans) or a master-piece? Though am not sure what it looks like to the artist here.



I am in awe wondering how on earth is it able to get the forms right. Just watch it closely, how in it's mammoth form puts all its delicate energy into drawing the lines. Just look at how it has one of its legs suspended in sheer concentration. For a moment, it looked all normal to me, until i saw the Mohawk walk into the scene with a Kane....Now I look at it in horror... is he overseeing his slave at work??

Looking at this, I can't help thinking, why would an elephant pick up a paint brush and start painting, just like that. If it did that was just perfect for all of us to be dumb-founded. Would it do that in its natural habitat when it needs to relax? Of course not! This is no relaxation for an animal!? Though it is said that an elephant thinks like a human being in certain ways. All I know from my experience hailing from a part in India where there exists a natural habitat of Elephants, is that they love to eat plantains in loads and grace on grass and would do anything to have that. At the same time they also obey when they see the stick. There has been millions of instances when they have attacked if they cross the border line into insanity where the Mohawk has been hurled by the elephant to his death. Alas! what do they do? They take the elephant away and shoot it down. Failing to look at who is performing these acts of insanity in the first place. Like any domestic animal it can be domesticated and they respond best to kindness but this is no response to kindness!! Is it? What do you think? I suddenly felt a sense of sadness not because of a fear that my profession of art could get wiped out, but the thought of depriving the freedom of another earthling for the sheer entertainment and commercial gain for human beings.

Though I must commend the skill of the trainer, I am pretty sure these Elephant Artists have got through an extreme amount of trauma doing an abnormal thing like this. I can think of many comparisons to human artists getting compelled to take to art and stardom against their will. At the end of the day they are humans trained by humans. But animals are more close to an innocent being. They get obedient against their will if they fear their extinction. This is what I see in this video

But elephants are such beautiful beings and humans could derive such pleasure by doing so many other things by their majestic presence on earth. Provide a safe habitat for example. This is what I did as an artist with my elephant heroes. I did sketches of them on my child-like visits to the zoo quite often like this sketch here:

And this is one of my comic experiences on one of my zoo trips again with a friend.

This is my take as an artist who loves and dotes on animals and pets. What is yours!!?

This week I lost one of my family pets "Gypsy - our golden retriever" who had a helpless demise after 10 days on saline. What I feel for Suda - the elephant (which animal writes in English!) is most profound when I grieve for gypsy.

I will have Gypsy's portrait posted here one of these days. And some of her funny videos. See you soon! and thanks for sharing my thoughts.

Daily Life Color Theory - Color Harmony

This post addresses an important element in Colo(u)r Theory. ...COLO(U)R HARMONY... after I just figured that my first post on Colo(u)r Theory has received at least 6000 hits. Thank you  for letting me know that you are interested to know more about Colo(u)r-theory and perhaps how I apply it in my everyday life as an artist.

In my first post
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5217181103710191916#editor/target=post;postID=8067908127082557533  I only covered the basic colour wheel, where I featured my new bird pets who still sit chirping and making my garden (oh!) so colo(u)rful and happy, with a new born looking out of its peep hole "green with envy" ;o) watching his other colourful counterparts chirping around. His daddy is green and mommy a nice sunny yellow. Thanks to these lovely birds the place is bubbling with colo(u)rs.

As a second part to my colour-theory post, here today I am featuring one of my real-life art-pieces, showcasing the newest of my pets "Reji" a Siamese Fighter Fish.

May I proudly say that nature has marinated him with these amazing tones...a lovely crimson red, ultramarine blue and deep violet, with a silvery sky blue shimmer along his streamlined scales. An absolute beauty with a proud tantrum!


Here is what I captured of an unforgettable Betta in one of his most temper-filled moments!

I am not to blame for his anger, that is just the way he is by nature a very aggressive territorial aquarium fish.

While I make him a pretty-looking inhabitable space and study his character when finding ways to make him a less stressed-out personality, I am thankful to him for giving me a very colourful painting you see here. It was quite therapeutic while I made it, for the creative-dabble of cool and warm shades in a colorful musical harmony. In his silky display I could almost visualize the harmonizing currents of water around him perfectly obedient to the velvety direction of his delicate majestic fins swaying floret after floret.

This leads me to touch upon a very important topic today.

Colo(u)r Harmony

Colo(u)r is like music. A painting or an art-piece too possesses harmonizing in the aesthetic visual sense like in music compositions. 12 notes in music is just the same as the palette of colo(u)rs.

The art of practicing colo(u)r harmony is in knowing which colo(u)r to use, in what order and proportion. It involves scientific and aesthetic methodologies. Some colo(u)r combinations facilitate us to study all possible variations at once.

Whether you are here to seek inspiration for your next art masterpiece or an design layout for an ad or a cover design or even an inspiration for your wardrobe, it is suggested to start with the overall sense of the effect you are looking for... subtle or stunning, silent or striking, cool or hot.

This week I will be back covering several aspects of colo(u)r speaking of how it effects the mood, based on size and structure and purpose.

See you again very soon.

My Saul Bass Style Illustration

These are a few Saul Bass Style Illustration I had made a few weeks ago.
While you look through these I would like to announce that I'll be back with a post which I am excited to make here, talking about the legendary Graphic Designer Saul Bass and his iconic works. Stay Tuned!

Copyright © 2012 Remy Francis

Copyright © 2012 Remy Francis

  

Copyright © 2012 Remy Francis

Media Bridge at the Dubai Studio City held on 06 June 2012

My appreciation to DSC for extending their invitation to me for their 2nd Edition of "Media Bridge" at the Dubai Studio City. It was a networking event for their business partners to get together and get acquainted with new players.

I was very pleased to meet some great people from the Film & Production industry in such an ideal platform with attendance of like-minded people. The gathering was made very warm by the DSC hosts and the lovely caterers who made sure it was a sumptuous :o) business breakfast gathering to remember.

The speakers were very good, where they spoke elaborately about their offerings. It was interesting to note how well the 2 businesses showcased themselves in the event. Although I went to the event to find two things. Their insight of the industry as players stationed within the cluster and to networking with the partners.

The lasting value I can always reminisce on from yesterdays event would be some promising discussions with the "Attendees" where most of them were interested in collaboratively working on future endeavors (profit or non-profit) to compliment each others presence in the region.

My commendation to the authorities for facilitating such a possibility.

At the next Media Bridge edition I would look forward to the presenters giving their audience an insight into the industry (as being players in the Dubai industry) while they showcase their offerings.

World Drawing Day

Pleased that this event fell on a weekend in my end of the world that I had an opportunity to make an entry today marking the "World Drawing Day"!!


Enjoyed making this portrait online using the Drawing Day Facebook app.
Approximate time taken to create: 40 minutes.

Media Mondays - A Dubai Media Non-profit networking Event 28 May 2012

I understand that Media Mondays - the Media industry's quarterly networking event is going to be held at The Address Hotel, Dubai Marina tonight between 18 and 23 hours, where it is open-doors to Media industry executives from the film, TV, PR, advertising, Internet, mobile, radio, and other Media-related industries.

Details to RSVP are on www.mediamondays.com/

This is my first attendance to this event and I am looking forward to meeting new like-minded people in media and to catch-up with friends/associates. Are you going to be there?

Let's visit to find out what's in store for us as a thriving new community in the UAE!

A dual-creative-satisfaction

This part of one of my illustrations I did today, felt like I got a good brush-up of my 2D animation skills.

Has an absolutely unrelated creation of yours led to an experience of indulging in an absolute different art-form for you too?

Book Trailer - Sci Fi Novel

This is a book trailer I recently put together to help promote a Sci Fi Novel with Original score by a Dubai composer.

Enjoy!

Manga Character Design - Series

As part of My Comic Con presence follow-up, may I release this Manga Portrait among the first of my series responding to Manga character design Icons UAE requests.

Character-design from the outbacks

I really enjoyed a few hours today with some Australia-time, creating this mascot taking us for a ride in the outbacks :o) for a non-profit who invited me to create her and her travel-mate.

An announcement of my published design

I am pleased to announce that I am now an Amazon published Sci Fi Designer dated 24 March 2012

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Mass-Volume-Gunnar-Garisson/dp/0615623018/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333444438&sr=1-1

I just received a signed copy from the author shipped from Washington. 

Thank you to the author of Critical Mass - Gunnar C. Garisson of Book 1 and Book 2 to have helped facilitate this start of a very promising tenure.

The Avengers - Behind-the-scenes Interviews

Here is a link to the making of Avengers

This was one great action-packed creative experiences in 3D movies I have had after Avatar. Although I wouldn't want to watch a 3D movie too often if I want to have a relaxing movie-day out. The glasses are a real hassle. However I find rather than live-action, 3D has the best impact as far as character animation oriented movies are concerned and would be very useful to especially animation artists and animation students who are looking for some serious inspiration to fine-tune their art.

Todays Event for Artists in Dubai & UAE

I was at... 
PHOTOWORLD DUBAI,
the International Digital & Imaging Exhibition for the Middle East at its opening day and my search for never-before found artists' material ended there.
And....
I came back with a promise and a few future collaborations to help me showcase my art and cater to a Middle Eastern audience effectively.

So drop everything, you artists and art-lovers and head to this annual event that could re-write the way you see art, photographs and Images with displays of latest technology, not to be missed.

The event runs from 25th to the final day 27th today!!

Comic Con Dubai @mefcc-My Whys and Wows!!

Last weekend I was at the Comic Con in Dubai and I had the most over-whelming experience..I accomplished my plans-at-large which was to meet other artists with interests to entertain the Middle-eastern fans and analyze the public interests in this form of art. Though I was subject to an Artist Alley Shuffle and my table landed physically out of the area populated by Artists. The good things out-weighed a resentment if any.

At the Artists Alley I was simply amazed by the vibe of creativity and comradrie (sorry this is not even an official word but you get the idea). Although most of the artists had landed at the Con to make a unique statement for themselves, there was a great sense of bonding irrespective of which part of the world they came from, with no difference in gender, creed or color.

In the following weeks, I will be covering the following exceptional artists I introduce here whom I was so fortunate to meet and connect with. As an artist this is a luxury to treasure and nurture for the rest of my life.

So folks! do read on while I take you around to each of them.

Well as I was an Artist who was also showcasing my works.  I take you to myself to mention what I was actually doing there at my AA table.

I had a presence at Comic Con Dubai 2012 (Officially called The Middle East Film and Comic Con),  simply....

1. To announce that I am here in Dubai and open for business and
2. To connect with Artists especially from the region.

My intent has always been how can we as a community help make the world a better place. Having been an advocate of wanting to bring together and help grow an artists community whether traditional or digital in different parts of the world, this was a feat after living and working in and around Dubai for almost a decade. I am pleased to see that 2012 is taking me closer to my wider goals.

ARTISTS I MET
1. My first intro is to a group of talented young men from Pakistan who were there to promote their comic book with the first pop art comic character from Pakistan.

They were an extraordinary bunch of modern, fun and talented human beings where there was a Creative Director, the PR person and an Illustrator. Wait till I come back to the details. Stay tuned!

2. The Second most extraordinary artist I met was a lady from Saudi Arabia.

I was so engulfed with happy emotions that I did not know whether I should break into tears or laugh. I went crazy just speaking to this young talented lady which came from a land of mystery. I listened intently at every word she told me about how it is to be an artist in Saudi Arabia. Her presence and friendly demeanor defied what I have learnt from the media, my only connection to this part of the world.


3. Artists from Peru - Again! Exceptional and distinct style of work....I can't wait to get into the details as I speak about each of them.


4. Comic Artists from the Emirates!! Wow! I thought...I met a really talented duo Ahmed - the whole squared - I called them. They were there to showcase through their studio a rare site for custom comic creation.

5. A hub which promoted and encouraged aspiring Arabic Artists. All of them were such a rare find.

6. This was another big one for me. I met some Saudi Arabian Comic Artists. The men could not communicate with me in a common language. The only language we had in common were the smiles and our art. I had another Emirati businessman who so patiently translated to me and to them whatever we needed to communicate. It was a pleasure for us to exchange our works of art for viewing and appreciate them without even knowing the language. The myth about any barriers of dealing with like-minded artists from another continent just melted right there.

7. Another site for sore-eyes where the number of women artists especially of Arabic descent. Especially Character Designers (celebrity artists who have taken their next step as well as talented budding artists). I saw the same humbleness in all of them alike.

8. There were quite a few deviant art celebrity artists too. Since I am not so much of a manga specialist or even adult fantasy artist (I am into Sci Fi and Children Fantasy-that's as far as I have gone to be able to connect with Comic con). One thing is these artists like Alwin etc. enjoyed such fan-base, it was simply impossible to even get a furlong closer to them leave alone being able to speak to them. So I did not even try after watching the long files of fans waiting for hours on end to get their autographed prints.

9. Although I stood enticed watching a manga pro artist exercising the jewels in her hands. That was such a treat watching her create. I did not realize until then how I enjoyed watching another artist draw especially when their style is different from mine.

10. Then there was this artist, who simply was busy both days making live portraits of people in various super hero fit-outs....and I could tell his live sketches were being bought like hot cakes. He was so busy that it was intimidating for me to even interrupt him. But I did manage to catch him free for a few seconds to make an artist to artist connection.

 This was my first comic con though I ate, drank and slept in my art world from the age of 2, and I have been in the commercial sector all my work life (production houses and ad agencies) so much that I never had the time to actually spend live sketching to entertain a live audience. Though I have done that only on request in parties doing portrait painting and silhouette portraits. Hmm I could use this experience, if I run out of options ;o).

 Anyway as I was not there to sell any art immediately, I am so glad I had this luxury just at a time when I received a legal permit to actually practice my traditional art in Dubai. So, it was a perfect time during this time of my calling.
So though I started with all the "Why words" when I found my table for some reason moved to 2 isles away from this bubbling artists community and the signed novels with my Sci Fi designs never reached the Dubai shores on time, and a few other things I rather replace with happy thoughts, I must say there were so many things I experienced to say a definite "WOW" and to look forward to Dubai's next Comic con or even end up with a new-found goal to try and visit other comic cons in the world. Especially San Diego. Ugh although this July I just may not be able to make it though one of my Sci Fi illustrations would get showcased there.

 And while I look at this amazon-published novel "Critical Mass" with my Illustration which I just received yesterday (compliments to the author) I have a special signed copy from him, I know there is always a next time for everything. For this first event I couldn't have expected it to be any better an experience than this one. Next time I would know how to react to surprises. Other than a split-second feeling that my table was like a sliver cut-off from a nicely iced cake, I was just taken aback with sheer pleasure about everything that transpired around me. Even bumping into other Dubai artists whenever I just took a walk in the campus for some fresh air. I met total strangers who became friends in seconds for they were artists who just came up to me to simply make a conversation. That instant connection as artists is quite difficult to describe. I hope I get to meet some of them again somewhere in this enchanting city. :o) a fantasy come true?

I am proud that I did the con with a few things to take from it.

• Got to know at least 10 new artists personally.
• I found at least a couple of new material to showcase my traditional art
• I found a focused group of audience interested in my kind of art and character designs. I would never have been able to reach these targets if not for the con
• I got to see live - some celebrity faces and get a rare view of a few who wanted to look like celebrity for the simple reason I went and said a "Hello" ;o) Let me leave this here for you to connect the dots.
• Live Pilate-run of my upcoming Picture books: I got to narrate one of my up-coming picture books based on a true UAE pet story and see the reaction of a few 10-12 year olds. It was such a great feeling to see how the kids got lured into my story.
• I got to live-sketch some fairies for a few kids hopefully making their day brighter.

So, all-in-all it worked out perfect for everyone in the event and I definitely recommend that a comic con is for everyone to behold and experience and be in this very special energy no matter who you are - a child, a teen or an adult. There is something on offer for everyone. If nothing else, it is definitely a fun-event to take you out of any blues. Trust me!!

With this, I end with this some more pictures from the comic con which I managed to take from between my space where I sat hidden among headphone sellers and computer monitor sellers. More pictures of the crowds whizzing past and more Cosplay artists and a few of my sketches I made at and for the event and the book trailer I made to showcase at comic con will follow in a post that will follow in a bit.

Before I end I would like to thank my close friends and family who have supported me 100% to showcase at this event and the best author and associate I could ever wish for Mr. Gunnar C. Garrison - a Scandinavian-American Author who fully supported with ideas and sourcing out images for the making of his book trailer. My appreciation goes more importantly to the organisers of this event for bringing such a promising event to the people of UAE and the region. I am sure next year they would do a greater job after they have done 2012's SWAT.

So folks! I was so glad to share this take of my Middle East Film and Comic con event. I can't wait to be back with posts with details of each artist I met at comic con.

Being the weekend here, I am taking some time off to do some manga character icon requests I received during the con. I have a whooping 20 characters to create and send off. I will post them as soon as I am done.

So do watch this space. And feel free to contact me for anything you need to know about art, drawing and inspirations in art.

Take care!

Happy Earth Day!

Reflecting on Earth Day today ....


I was at a multinational event yesterday here in Dubai, which left me so pleased that artists from all over the world could bond so well through their works of art without borders.

So any fear of the following is banished everytime such events happen :o)

Leaving me this lovely day to ponder upon.

I will be having some special posts about the first Middle East Film & Comic con fest I was mentioning about above here in the following days to come.
So stay-tuned while I share my "Why and Wow" moments at the mefcc.

MY ARTISTS ALLEY 65 AT THE DUBAI COMIC CON

I am off to showcase my works in Sci Fi, Fantasy, Childrens Illustration
with a Display Featuring my Sci Fi Works on a Featured Novel "The Critical Mass by an American Sci Fi Author Gunnar C Garrison.".
Also will be showing the Book Trailer of Critical Mass.

If you are in Dubai, welcome to this fun event to talk to me about the making of the Designs and the Book Trailer. It will be opposite Dubai Media City at the Exhibit venue at Mena Seyahi, (next to Barista.) So it is a fun first floor to hang out at.

I will post some images with my take on the event soon for the benefit of you folks who are not in the city today!!

In case you are, I am on Table No. 65 labeled "rembrandz.com". See you there.

Making High format Promotional material is a #%$ !!

I spent more than 5 hours, digging out my vector files of a character Illustration I made to render my composition 220% larger. End of it I think it is worth it. What good is it getting printed with distracting pixels. The following Illustration was made with the soldier being given a small touch of manga... enough not to get distracted by the style in my art. I prefer not to use more than 20% if I want manga in my illustrations. I admit I have no experience in manga anyway but enough experience to complement my style with a few trends around.

Artists could survive a blackout. Read on...

One spring morning my whole office went off all electronic gadgets. And that was indeed a blessing in disguise for me. When I had the opportunity I bought a one day break from all my business associations and decided to make good this once in a life-tine opportunity. Yes! power-cuts such as this is rare in Dubai where I live and work but back in India where I grew up if there is no power cut in a day maybe considered a once in a life-time opportunity to enjoy uninterrupted work.

Here is a painting I made on one of my visits to India when a power-cut at dusk made me take the brush and paint to wash off my impatience of grappling in the dark.

But this day graciously compelled me to go back to our roots where our artist fore-fathers picked up a charcoal or a pencil to sketch.

And so with the natural light of the day and a candle light for the night, I made a small sequence of cel animation with my peg-bars and papers lit underneath the glass-top table with a tea candle.

When I made this small project and ran the line teat, it lightened up my spirits giving me a confidence that we artists have a chance, way past our retirement. That even if a gadget fails on us we do have some job to make ends meet.

All my life, having my traditional art as my alternate career makes me heave a sigh of relief that I could count on a skill like many of we artists who possess a traditional grounding to give back to the world intelligently even with minimum resources... All we need is a passion and conviction eh?

Thanks for coming by.
See you again.

Illustration - Sizing to High format is no joke!?

I am sure many illustrators have run into a situation I am in now and doing what I am into at this moment.

One of my designs has brought on the need for me to make it 50 times larger in size. Oops! That is going to be several man-hours of pixel-level make-do and late hours of work and great strain to the eyes.
Below is a tiny clip of my mural sized once tiny artwork: Will upload it here once I am done.

But the good side to this exercise is that we get to learn the intricate details of the subject. For example what I am working on now is on an organic subject where I need to go down to the details of painting in its blood vessels. So am enjoying the research I am doing to get it right and glad to think back and realize that how my years of sketch-outings to make it my way of life as an artist is paying off... to do live sketches of humans and animals at gyms and the zoo respectively.

There are to regrets for the investment of time and energy I had spent at a time where many in my part of the world would have frowned upon to make sad judgments about this. How else could an artist grow in a city where specialties in art merely lay primarily within the passion of the learner whether an art-school student or a normal student who worked side by side with a passion in art. The only option was to enliven the dormant motivation within. As a Math graduate student with a passion in art.. which is all I needed to get started to hang out with a few naturalists in the city, while they covered nature with their various elements, I sketched without boundaries on anything under the sky. Right there was my art-schooling which has helped to reap the benefits today when I sit with this simple pleasure.

Science Fiction Novel & Book Cover Illustration

It is my pleasure to take you to the online release of a must-read novel "Planeshifters" by an author I admire very much, Gunnar C Garrison for whose books I have had the privilege to design.

Do enjoy an intense read of the Novel as an e-book from:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/136124
It is due for a Print release in a few weeks.

Before I take off may I mention that my experiences of designing for Gunnar's books have been most enriching for I couldn't have painted any pixel of it without getting into details of scenes in the story to visualize every detail.

I look forward to releasing an article very soon on the "making of a Sci Fi Book Cover" featuring the Planeshifter's book design. So do visit back or lookup: rembrandz.hubpages.com and you may just about stumble upon it one of these days.

Look forward to seeing you again!

Creatively yours

Intrigued by today's Google Doodle

Google has long led the web community in Simplistic Branding.

Today's Doodle from Google commemorating Hertz's Birthday is the ultimate in showcasing further their emphasis on white space and non-clutter.

After a whole busy month on-sight with my blog staying dormant, I am inspired yet again by none other than "Google" to make a post commending their daily doodle, speaking it all in a simple sine wave with just their brand colors.

Just placing these dots with Google's brand colors as below and anyone would relate to it as being Google's brand.

Just Brilliant !!

UAE's 1st Google Bloggers Meet

It was great to attend the First Google Bloggers Meet on the 18 January 2012 and to be a part of a new generation of bloggers in a happening community.

Thank you Feras Salah, Ketchum RAAD and Google for recognising my blogspot and inviting me to the Luncheon Hangout with other bloggers to sit alongside and chat with Google’s Managing Director for Middle East North Africa about things that mattered in the digital world.
Kudos! for the Great location!
...at the foot of the World's Tallest building - "The Pavillion" Downtown Dubai

some Great Discussions!...Sumptuous Food! and the Keepsake Google Goodie Bag!

Here is a Google Doodle I made, in gratitude! :o)

Look forward to more meetings of this sort!!