BrownMonkeys at the Middle East Film and Comic Con
Rafael a.k.a. Digital-Addict talks about the participation of BrownMonkeys at the recent 1st Middle East Film and Comic Con held in Dubai International Marine Club, Mina Seyahi.
My work gets stolen
Let me start off by telling you about New Era Introducing.
According to the blurb on their website, “New Era Introducing is a global creative project showcasing unique talent from across the world. The project gives creative minds of tomorrow an opportunity to make their own statement using a blank New Era 59FIFTY as their canvas. Those judged to show the most unique display of self- expression will go on to form a touring gallery exhibition and be published in a limited edition New Era Introducing book.”
Back to September of 2011. I made this.
It was pink, it was pretty, and it was mine. However, since it was for a competition, I packaged it back to London, and kept my fingers crossed, that if it didn’t win, at least it would make it as a finalist and travel around the world.
Which it did. My cap together with 50+ other caps, travelled around Europe, stopping at London, Paris, Sweden, Barcelona, South Africa, etc. The last scheduled stop was for Dubai, and I looked forward eagerly to the day that I would be reunited with the cap again.
On the day of the exhibit in Dubai, a lady emails me to tell me that they had “misplaced” the cap.
Or rather it had been stolen.
According to the New Era people, my cap went missing around February, during the Barcelona stop of the travelling exhibition. Apparently, somebody put it on his head, and walked out of the gallery with nobody the wiser.
Heartbreaking, since I had put a lot of effort into the artwork; it rather felt like somebody had kidnapped one of my kids.
On the eve of the exhibit, they were considerate enough to place a note on a pedestal where my cap artwork was supposed to be. Basically, it just says my cap was taken and never found again.
Here are other hats from the exhibit that I particularly like. Anyway, I just feel sad that the artwork I had most wanted to see had been stolen away from me.
Lina Al-Amoudi’s beautiful and well-crafted artwork. It was the winner of the competition.
Typewriter hat. It was another piece that caught my eye.
BM at Middle East Film and Comic Con
This is some of the goodies we sold at the recent Comic Con held at Dubai International Marine Club, Mina Seyahi.
*Thanks to everyone who appreciate, say hi, took pictures, liked and purchased our works. A Big congratulations to the guys of Extracake for their success on this 1st Comic Con!
See more pictures of the event on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/thebrownmonkeys
Art Bank
If you’re sick of staring at the generic Ikea picture on your wall that you (and probably 5,000 other people) bought, make a beeline for Artbank Dubai’s online shop where you can order limited edition fine art prints of my illustrations and paintings. They ship anywhere around the world. Needless to say, the quality is stellar and they have my official stamp of approval!
“Art Bank is a passion project, founded by Prolab digital and quint. Art Bank offers a vast online “bank” of artwork and affordable limited edition prints from an international source of up-and-coming talented artists, photographers, and illustrators. The limited edition art can be exclusively purchased in our online store.”
I was lucky to be invited as one of 5 artists involved in the Launch Party and Auction for Art Bank held at JamBase, Madinat Jumeirah last April 16, 2012. Among the other artists involed were illustrator Aliz Buzas, painter Luca Rozsa, designer Karoly Kiralyfalvi, and photographer Aya Atoui.
The highlight of the launch party was the auction of the artworks, and the auctioneer was none other than Dubai-based standup comic Mr. Hisham Wyne, looking very dapper in his bowtie and cane. The auction was something else, as I have never been to any auctions, so I was a bit blown away by the prices that people were bidding on the art. Honestly I was floored when the last auctioned piece (mine, titled “Ladder to Oblivion”) sold for AED 2,500.
I had a few beers and that made mingling with other people go down a little easier. Haha! Anyhow, cheers go out to the good people a Quint and Prolab who made this amazing night possible.
The Borrower Arrietty watercolors on Arches paper A3
The Borrower Arrietty
watercolors on Arches paper
A3
The Borrower Arrietty
Of all the Studio Ghibli movies I’ve seen so far, The Secret World of Arrietty remains my favorite. Look it up! —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp2nb9Vq0yY
My newest watercolor painting to date, is a homage to this excellent piece of animation. I based the painting on one of the movie’s famous scenes, wherein Arrietty is shown amongst the flowers.
A little background on why Im doing fanart this time around: I used to be a BIG fan of anime fifteen years ago, even making my own geocities website where I used to upload gouache drawing of favorite characters from various anime series. Anime is partly the reason why I am drawing and painting now; it is also responsible for teaching me how to use photoshop and illustrator and all that.
Although my illustration style now is worlds away from what I used back then, I am not averse to making fanart from time to time for a movie that is really inspires me.
I drew the character of Arrietty in my own style, but in the composition of the famous scene. I also replaced the toon flowers with references from actual flowers.
Getting her hair right was a little tricky. I am still not sure whether I should have made her hair brown red rather than orangey brown.
Here it is, with an original framed Studio Ghibli print that I bought from Cartoon Gallery around 3 months ago.
Of course, the guys over at Studio Ghibli are the best, and I can only humbly hope that I did a bit of justice to Arrietty’s character.
I am going to try and make this available as prints for the upcoming MEFCC (Dubai’s first comicon), where I’ll be showing my art-based accessories alongside with fellow Brownmonkeys (www.brownmonkeys.com)
Stickers of my characters. If you want it, come over to the…
Stickers of my characters.
If you want it, come over to the MEFCC
Fan art for Black Rock Shooter I’ll be making prints for…
Fan art for Black Rock Shooter
I’ll be making prints for MEFCC