Watercolor paintings

I think this is my first watercolor illustration for work-related stuff. I never brought my watercolor in the before because.. i don't know why. Anyway, these drawings are for a not-so-small article about women making money with home business.

There are laws that regulate home business in Oman, so they need to register it in the Ministry to avoid trouble!

 

Before this thing got printed, they made me change the $ sign to OR (Omani rial). Well, it makes sense but initially i thought of it already and figured that the dollar sign has always been the standard sign for moolahs. :D

Food Business

A page i did for the business section of Times of Oman. Went all vector and boxy for the page. Was also aiming for something very clean and sleek. At first the plan was to make it look like a menu since the article is about food and all but i wound up making it look like this, which i am personally very happy of the outcome. :)

The idea of my design was inspired by this.

Below is my study. First thing i did was layout the text in InDesign with the images in mind where to put them, print it and sketch on it until i get my desired illustration for the page.

Samurai for renewable energy

Japan is still in crisis and making more news about the nuclear thing going on. This article is talking about considering renewable energy for Japan. 

And what a nice way of using a samurai as an advocate for the renewables! I got really excited about illustrating this because anything related to old Japanese art always reminds me of a college plate which had a very low grade but i thought it deserved a really high grade. So everytime i get a chance doing a Japanese art (NOT anime), i always feel like proving myself! hahaha

 

The original sketch i used to traced in illustrator.

Some of my references while creating my samurai. Argh! so tough to get that 'old' effect of this Japanese art.

Tourism in Dhofar

Here is a small infograhic showing the tourism in Dhofar ( northern part of Oman). Most tourists who visit this area come from the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries.

In my more than a year here in Oman, i have never been to that part of the region. They say it's greener there, and cooler. Hopefully this year i can visit Salalah-the most famous tourist attraction in Dhofar.

"The Tourists"

Arabic version

English version

Published last May 17, 2011, Al Shabiba

My top 3 spreads before the final match

May 28 will be the final match for Champion's League and we will need to come up with something better than this top 3 spreads below. But before that, let me take pride of these 3 spreads i have created along with inforgraphic designer Marcelo Duhalde.

Top 1 Brazo: Internationalle against FC Bayern

Internationalle: Wesley Sneijder, coach Leonardo

FC Bayern: Arjen Robben, coach Louis Van Gaal

 

 

Robben in vector and later in photoshop.

Sneijder in vector and later in photoshop.

Top 2 The Galleon Fight: Tottenham Hotspurs against Real Madrid

Tottenham: Gareth Bale, coach Harry Redknapp

Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo, coach Jose Mourinho

coach Harry Redknapp

Coach Jose Mourinho

the cannonball players: Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo

Top 3 The Knights: Manchester United against Chelsea

Players: Wayne Rooney (Manchester)

             Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Coaches: Sir Alex Frguson (Manchester)

               Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea)

More football illis!

For as long as there is something happening in the football world, i will always have something to illustrate for the sports section and it usually comes in one big spread (that's two pages)! These spreads are all dedicated to the 2011 Champion's League that is still going on until this May.

I have already posted the first few spreads on Champion's League before and this set i am posting is the second set and is arranged not according to the dates but on how i took pride of the concepts and rendering on these spreads. 

1. Arsenal against Barcelona

2. AC Milan against Tottenham Hotspurs

3. Chelsea against Manchester United

4. Inter Milan against Chalke

5. Chalke against Manchester United

I'm back with a GOLD!

Just when i thought i will be experiencing a vacation hangover today, some good news comes up and pumps up some drive for me to work--we won GOLD for the IFRA Newspaper Infographics category!!!

Here is the winning piece but the Arabic version bagged the award for this one.

This infographic has already given us pride at the 13th SND edition. I have also blogged about this here last year. I couldn't be any more proud of myself for being a part of this team!

AND not just that, we also bagged the Magazine Cover Design for Thursday Magazine. All these recognition that the newspaper has been given is still somehow (for me) surreal. I am part of a team that made a difference in this in this country and given it something to be proud of. :)

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!

TV Boy

Meet TV boy! He is upset and hostile! If nobody gives him what he wants.. this boy will wreck havoc like Godzilla did. So better surrender to this creature's demands!

Oh kids, these tiny little creatures who get what they want by using emotional blackmail. That's right, these little brats can turn on you in just one press of a button and blame it on media. Watching too much TV and movies have indeed influenced how a kid behaves.

I don't have a kid but that's what the article for this illustration says. I don't have to expound on it, I'm
pretty sure everyone will agree with this psychological finding. Right??

Gaddafi and the hidden wealth

My first illi about Gaddafi! It's always a pleasure to to be working on something that is very HOT in the news room. There have been tons of articles about this man and his country but none landed on my Wacom pen for illis.

A cool idea to make Gaddafi into a tree and i have to say, it's really a huge challenge. When i look at a picture of this man, i always think how easy it is to draw his face. Every feature on his face is very recognizable! But making him into a tree gave me an extra stretch. His son wasn't so bad at all. :D

The beautiful thing about this page was that, the bleed on the bottom was taken off!! The illustration flowed right until were it faded at the very tip of the paper. Aweesssooommenessttt!! It gave the whole page more kick.

Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam. Can i just say he's kinda cute? OK i will shatap now. :|