Motherhood illustrations

Since motherhood has taken over my life, i can't help making an illustrated version of my my daily adventures. I haven't done a lot, i wish i could put all my experiences and misadventures into a comic strip but then again i wish i could do many things since my hands are always tied and my time is not mine anymore.

LET ME DO MY BROW, SON! | 2015

As much as i prioritize my child, i can't let my brow game get the back seat. It's the most that i could do for myself including taking a quick shower and keeping myself sane. Never mind all the mess around the house, dirty diapers lying around, dirty clothes piling up and of course, running late for work-- kilay is still life! :D

CAN MAMA CONTOUR HER FACE FIRST? | 2016

Shortly after my first child, the second baby came along and my makeup game has also upped its ante-- this time i was into contouring! Hah! With two babies, i really tried to squeeze in this part of my routine which was a bit hard. Although this time we already have a nanny but having two babies and at the time I was working, it was still a mess. But i do my best to get that 'time for myself'--and contouring was lifer!

ME AND THE BOYS WHEN GOING OUT | 2017

It's 2017 when we moved to Bahrain and we we're nannyless- life started to become a bit more challenging than usual. My boys were becoming toddlers and hyperactive. I could not have imagined myself being where I am now, but hey that's life! One of the things that i am proud of myself is going out alone with the kids, they can be a handful and i am able to keep myself sane and calm but i'm actually dying inside! But once i am able to strap them in the car going home and everyone is in one piece then my day is done.

Motherhood will always bring me ups and downs, more subject to draw and more reason to do what i do. It's fun, it's exhilarating and most times exhausting that's why i need more coffee!

THANKS!

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Ramadan on World Cup

June 28 marks the start of the holy month of Ramadan which will also be observed by some of the footballers playing during the World Cup. This is an illustration i made for the article of the said topic.

Here are some sketches before i went to digital rendering. It's always good to hold a pen and doodle an idea. away. :)

RAMADAN MUBARAK! :)

Doodles

 Just a few of my recent doodles this year.

 

I looooooooooove drawing mermaids. seriously.

Telephone bill

So it's been a while and i have this to share for now. I just got back from a thirty-day vacation and it has been a refreshing break. Just a few days back at work i found some bills lying on my desk which could easily pile up in to trash... but hey, since i didn't really have anything work-related to do YET... i thought i'd work on this one telephone bill! hehehe

And wallah! Time well spent.

No idle time for me. hehehe

Muscat Festival 2013

Muscat Festival is an annual cultural even in Oman, showcasing the traditions, art and culture. With visitors from other Arab countries and some neighboring Asian countries with all its products and cultural pride.

Here is a graphic we printed on the day of the opening with the festival's schedule. All illustrations are mine which i had so much fun doing,but ended up printing the non-colorful version of the illustrations.

So as NOT to distract the attention of the readers from the main purpose of the graphic which is schedule of events, my illustrations need to be more subtle yet, still festive. Thus, a more pale and duller hues. See below.

This one here is where my heart belongs! IT DOE'S LOOK FESTIVE and carries the beat of the event... BUT unfortunately it's a scene-stealer. My graphic director would prefer the tamed version of this one instead.

 

The early stages

Deciding whether or not i should get a tattoo was never a battle, it was more of like WHAT to permanently ink on my body that i will (hopefully) not regret for the rest of my life. So it took me a while to come up with something. 

Then there's the pressure of coming up with a profound meaning behind the design. Of course, I would wanna be able to explain it to people when they ask. :-|

So there's that, and there's this..

(this is not the final design)

Whether it was profound or not, the idea was more personal. Mermaids have always fascinated me. These mythical creatures that have been spawn from creative mind were perfect as my subject. Two mermaids entangled passionately in love and hate but are bound and connected by carnal desire. One poses an an alter-ego.

Maradona twice

I made an illustration of Maradona twice, not because i wasn't able to capture the 'Maradona face' but it just didn't capture the article's story or the editor's fancy. And also because there was a bit of a misunderstanding in between.

First Maradona: Instruction was the article is just a small story about him managing a team in Oman. Something about it is not right, the story. So i thought of drawing him in a simple 'manager look' with very simple lines.

 

Second Maradona: "Action I want action!" the editor insists. OK Fine. Then i find out that it's a whole page and the illustration will be quarter of the page's size. Sheessh. And Maradona is training a team in the Mideast.

Nuffsed. @-)

Pretty little fellas

Just wanted to share something that i did today. It's a little discovery i made early this evening while working on an article about population. By discovery, i mean how cool it was when i saw the result of what i was trying to achieve. Actually, this technique has been done before  by another illustrator, i saw it while browsing on his site and i thought it was freakin' creative! Now here i am trying it out for myself. :)

The technique was drawing on a tracing papers and scanning two papers together. The one at the back (background) will have an opaque color while the one on front (foreground) will get the darker and clearer effect. It's a really cool technique!

Below are the details.

Small Illustrations

Every now and then i get this small illustrations and they come in a really tight deadline. After more than a year of working in a newspaper, i have developed a technique and style that has always saved my ass when situations like this arrives. 

The Prison Situation

For this illustration, instant downloaded brushes are the key to a fast textured looking artwork!

Buraimi Pollution

When i don't have to draw anything on paper-- that is a real time-saver. A fast pen tool and shape tool illustrations will always do the job!

 
Summer Robbery
My dependable Staedtler ink is my bestfriend when i want a safe and fast illustration. Just add in a few colors, texttures and brushes on photoshop and wallah!

Danger!

The topic was about how women can defend when they find themselves in the hands of an attacker. The instant thing that came to mind is that perennial image of a retro pop illustration of a frightened or sad woman with a huge thought bubble on its head. Haha!  I didn't think twice to use that style for this article.

And walaah! My first retro pop illustration in super bright colors! :)

 

Wouldn't you agree that this style was just perfect?? :D  Oh and i lurve that purse!

George Michael

A quick caricature of George Michael. Quick for me is less than an hour, maybe for some it would be like 30 minutes or something. but for this kind of illustration, it would usually take me an hour if i wanted to put more details. But when i did this, it had to be in a rush because i wanted to go home and it was already late in the office. This caricature went really well for me. For something so rush this was really good. :)

Here's George in ink.

Here's George rendered in photoshop.

George Michael's details.