Illustration Friday - Theme Hidden

Hello there and thanks for stopping by again!

Here is my submission for this weeks theme @ Illustration Friday - "Hidden".
I was wanting to participate this Friday by drawing specially for the theme when an almost perfect topic was declared which has a metaphorical reference to this charcoal and watercolor pencil piece.

This piece will be in an art show called "Against the Tide 2013" in Dubai on the 11th - 14th @ The Ahmadiya Heritage Guest House.  She is part of a series where I portray women from various regions in the world. I call this lady the "Damsel-Arabia".

I am so thankful for Illustration Friday that I have a good reason to make a few posts on my blog at least sporadically so I don't get all lost in my real-life work activities.

See you the next time when I plan to make a few posts showcasing some amazing independent talents here in Dubai.

It would be interviews with some award-winning versatile commercial artists in Dubai. These freelancers are examples of warriors in this battle of true talentship (just made it up :o)) with a weird world in a typical post-recession environment where it is good against evil business practices and an answer to people who think talents are available at their own disposal. For they who think they could have works of art exchanged as cheap stakes. These talented individuals demonstrate how they defy this phenomenon.

Talents have so many options and so many perspectives to make it a success even if the market turns against them.

And so my experiences the past 2 weeks makes me realize that such posts are the need-of-the-hour for a passionate artist surviving on his/her own to take away from.

So please come back for a useful read.
Happy crusading in your passions and keep the high spirits going, no matter what!

Illustration Friday Jungle theme submission

The Jungle theme of Illustration Friday was an interesting theme and looked forward to it.

So here I am making a submission of some quick sketches I made of Indian Jungle animals from a live backdrop....a good reason to enjoy the nostalgia too....back in the days when I did frequent outdoor sketches and animals-in-motion studies as a growing animator.

At this point I'd like to add a very interesting incident that happened while sketching the elephant rushing-off shown on this piece.

It was a warm summers afternoon back in the early 90s when I set out with a pal to capture jungle friends from a local zoo. When I sat down comfortably under an Indian banyan tree gearing up to sketch this beautiful elephant by its caretaker....perhaps 500 meters away. 

No sooner did I look away for a 30 seconds...and look back, I was startled and almost fell off the platform when I spotted a zoomed-in view of Mr. elephants foot....within inches away from where I sat....he stood right in front staring down at me.

I did not see my friend next to me then for she had made a split second decision to run as far away as quickly as possible in fear :o))). This animated experience sticks with me whenever I pull out this image and am very pleased to make this mention, at this time.

A cartooned-up version of the hilarious scene of that day is somewhere in my archives and will have it up here in a while when I get back to my physical work days. 

Am back at work again and am glad to find you the sketch of the humorous scene here, I promised you I'd upload about a fortnight ago: (Upload date 20 Aug 2013)

It has been Eid in Dubai and I just took a part-holiday this festive-summer holidays in Dubai.

Had the best time enjoying the rains in the peninsula.

Take care!