كلاكيش

Tabadol - Mar2it Tari2

2011-12-11T23:19:00.000-08:00

During the month of November, I met 10 amazing artists from France and Lebanon.

At the beginning of the project, I knew only one of them but i ended up having 10 friends: Angela, Raghda, Maryam, Dana, Azza, Brice, Clemence, Jeanne, Dianne and Ronan.

The project is called "Mar2it Tari2" and the association behing it is Tabadol. This is their second project between Lebanon and France, and this year the theme was "street".

In this workshop, there s no leader; everyone is here to exchange their knowledge and each idea is a potential project. So we spent the first two weeks doing workshops, each one in his domain, and we did a lot of applications as well based on what we learned. I suggested to the group the stop motion technique, and working with artists from different disciplines made me explore a lot this technique. We used to shoot every day for an hour or two, a short stop motion with no story line; we explore the streets, we find a spot and we do it !

I don't mid now spending an hour a day doing this because it s just like a therapy :)

here is the result of all the scenes we shot during the month of November.

The movie was part of a show we did for 2 days in Beirut. "Mar2it Tari2" was not a play, nor a dance show; it was a parade in the streets of Hamra, Beirut where the audience walks and explore the city from a different perspective and spirit. This was seriously dreamy, surreal specially with the great audience we had. This video edited by Jeanne Robert, document what happened during two days in Beirut !

I took some photos of the show so u can enjoy few moments that i will never forget !

Dianne, Jeanne, 2 books and a sofa surrounded by cars, police and the audience.

"memory" was the key of this moment that happened in the middle of a construction area.

Les Bouffons, a married couple, lead the audience around the different locations where the show happens, and we blocked the streets so the audience can cross, and we painted some additional pedestrians passage. I hope we can keep them and make cars respect them one day !

Songs and music in a garage :)

shows around "Consommation" in a parking ...

the beautiful audience with whom we shared some videos at the end of the parade. Thanks everyone for being here and i hope this post will transmit a bit of what happened for all of you,

learning about Tabadol for the first time :) You can check other photos from "Tabadol" on this link: http://www.behance.net/gallery/TABADOL-2011/2649645

Now we will continue this project in Lyon, France in February 2012. I m so excited to discover this city and to work again with the great team and will keep you posted what will happen in Lyon :)

Mixy - Cardboard Illustration

2011-12-08T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is not very recent but it s never too late to share it :)

I collaborated with the cute and sexy art director Petra Abousleiman on this AD directed by the one Amin Dora and we spent a week of preparations full of colors, food and a bit of stress !

The mission was to design the set imaginary elements and to illustrate them on cardboards.

We used markers to define the contour stroke and acrylics to fill in with colors. The surfaces were big since all the models are real scale relative to the actors.

The following are some final illustrations that we used in the actual shooting of the AD.

the best part for me was to design a car for the kid, the hero in the AD.

We used a real car, and covered the body with cardboards with a design twist, cut it into pieces

and drew on each one apart.

Later we fixed all the cardboard pieces on the actual car in the very early morning before the shooting starts.

here is the original car :)

This job was really fun and it s all because of the amazing working team.

Thanks a lot to Issa Kandil, Ashley Choukeir, Houssam Kanj, Sahar Malek and Petra Abousleiman :)

Marcedes - Poster

2011-11-30T03:13:00.001-08:00

Marcedes, is the new film for Hady Zaccak.

I am a fan of Hady's documentaries and i m lucky to work on this one.

I designed the poster and the opening title that i animated along with Ashley Choukeir.

Marcedes is the story of a car, the story of a family and the story of a country. Therefore, the poster visual must reflect those elements so we decided to create a postage stamp for Mercedes, the car so it becomes an icon in the history of Lebanon.

This is one of the most exciting tasks i've ever worked on, and i hope one day, i ll be able to design some stamps for real :)

Here is the final poster that is now printed in 4 different colors like any other stamp.

I added some photos of the prints, and a photo of the lovely Hady Zaccak :)

Marcedes world premiere will be in Dubai International Film Festival, December 9th.

For more info, check this link

A Place To Go

2011-11-23T00:20:00.000-08:00

A place to go is a short movie directed by Wajdi Elian.

The genre of this short is psychodrama mixed with animation, and i was lucky to work on the animated part of this movie that was full of challenging tasks. The main 2 characters of the movie are Ziad & the cat. Ziad was shot in real footage and the cat in stop motion in a real environment, different from the usual Stop motion set; we had no wooden board elevated from the ground to fix the cat, so we had to research another technique to control the contact of the cat with the ground of the set.

Nadim Saoma, a great DOP and friend was working with me to find a solution to fix the legs to the ground and we finally decided to work with magnets and metals, so we had magnet legs for the cat and a metal ground for the set covered with a very thin moquette. The technique worked very well but we had few issues with finding the right magnets, and later having sticky hands and legs in some positions of the cat.

All this came after creating the actual puppet which was not an easy task. I had to create a puppet that will appear in most of the movie, so it has to be flexible in order to perform all the requested acts. therefore, we had to design a strong armature to handle all these tasks and movements. We had the choice of ordering a cat armature from abroad since we don't have armature here in Lebanon, but i wanted a customized armature to fit the design of the cat.

So we decided to do everything in Lebanon and we designed the armature, prepared the technical drawings and asked people working with metal to execute the designed pieces and the result was super satisfying. We were extremely happy to achieve this quality of armature here in Lebanon with the help of many people. We tested the armature after connecting all the parts into one armature, and we shot a very short video of the armature moving.

Later, I covered the armature with a fabric that suits the cat fur and i had to paint it in light grey to avoid overexposed parts of the final image as requested from the DOP Bassem Fayyad.

Here are some photos from the shooting and a video of the armature test.

We had as well outdoor shoots and this was a crazy process, as we stayed till 4 am in the morning shooting and animating and avoiding the cars' light reflection.

This was indeed an amazingly beautiful experience that i m ready to repeat specially with the amazing crew that surrounded me with all the beautiful energy to be able to finish the animation in 10 intensive days.

Thanks everyone and all the best Wajdi with the movie :)

Here are some shots of the film and hope you will have the chance to watch it in the film festivals.

Mar2it Tari2 - Invitation

2011-11-23T00:11:00.001-08:00

After three weeks of workshops and street life, i would love to share with you the outcome of the project TABADOL. The event will happen this thursday and friday in zico house at 8 pm.

Check the attached invitation to know more about the project.

See you ... :)

Animate 11 - Creative Lab Interview

2011-11-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

and here is a sexy report about my presentation with Ashley Choukeir in Animate 11.

A big thanks for the creative lab :)

Lungs

2011-10-31T13:48:00.001-07:00

to Reem ...

EFL competition - Audience Prize

2011-10-31T13:43:00.001-07:00

And i won the audience prize in the EFL competition :) Thanks for all the amazing people who supported me, and voted till the last minute of the competition ! :)

Nature clash at the border line

2011-10-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

A week ago i went for a road trip to the south of Lebanon. It was my first visit to the south and all happened after the imagination studio, a workshop created by Joanna Choukeir. check this video that describes more her project.

The three days trip was full of surprises; i was amazed that we have such beauty in our country. The landscapes, the nature, the sea, the people are still so fresh and vibrant. It s so sad that we rarely visit the beautiful south, but i m definitely going back soon !

Another sad thing i encountered was the clash of nature on the border line with the occupied land. Same land but different nature ! One the right, the lebanese part and the left is the israeli part. Lebanese farmers aren't allowed so close to the line due to the buffer zone.

These photos are now part of EFL competition, so if you like the project , please vote for me by pressing the green heart on this page :

http://therefordesign.net/EFL/contest/submission.php?id=49

Thank you :)

Animate 11 - Photos

2011-09-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was invited to Dubai to participate in Animate 11, a full day event organized by Wamda that gathered entrepreneurs, animators and illustrators coming from the arab world. The event started in the morning in a beautiful venue, The Pavillion Downtown Dubai, where i met again some friends from past workshops and book fairs.

The schedule included a group of lectures to discuss four main points :

- How can animation truly inspire, empower and connect the region

- What can media platform do to better support Animation

- How can animators support each other

- What can the Arab animation industry learn from the practices in the rest of the world

The main panel featured representers of Google, Yahoo, Freej, MBC and Wamda.

The event focused as well on creative showcases to feature a selection of the best arab animators and animation projects.

Ashley Choukeir and I were lucky to be one of the presenters where we shard our experience with an amazing audience that kept us motivated to talk for more than an hour and a half about our project and experience in the field.

Thanks for all your beautiful energy :)

I hope we will have the chance in the future to share more our work hoping to inspire someone ...

TEDx Beirut Sketches

2011-09-24T04:11:00.000-07:00

TEDx Beirut was happening yesterday, and it was a great day ! I was asked to do live sketches for the talks on set. That was not easy; but the inspiring talks made the whole process faster than i expected. I had to chose only one idea per talk or else, I would have illustrated the whole day. Now enjoy the Sketches, Check TEDx Beirut great website designed by ThereforeDesign and their Blog :)

Sabine and I in the event :) I used to sketch inside the theater and between the sessions scan everything to post the sketches online.

Joanna Choukeir

Halim Madi

Andrew Bossone

Hala Fadel

Gilbert Doumit

Bassam Jalgha

Arne Dietrich

Hassan Aziz

Ziad Abichakar

Mazen Hajjar

Najat Rizk

Reine Abbas

Farid Younes

Mahmoud Natout

Ali M. Jaber

Katia Saleh

Michael Kouly

TEDx Staff

Farid Younes

Yorgui Teyrouz

Daniel Habib & Tony Oudaim

Animate 11 - Lecture

2011-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Wamda will be hosting an energy-filled gathering in Dubai that Inspires, Empowers and Connects the region's best animation talent. "CoE Animate 11" will bring together animators and illustrators and connect the investor community to the top Arab creative talent.

Ashley Choukeir and I will be giving a lecture on September 22nd at 2 pm so hope you can attend :) See you .....

Egg - Brecht

2011-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Freez - Refresh, Restart.

2011-08-21T02:44:00.000-07:00

and here is the first AD i direct that includes real footage, actors, studios, and animation; it is the new corporate TVC for Freez drink.

Credits:
Client: Kassatly Chtaura
Creative Director: Nathalie Masri
Director: David Habchy
Animation Director: David Habchy
Strategic Planner: Khalil Khatib
Executive Producer: Nathalie Masri
Production Manager: Sofia Moussa
Art Director & Layout Designer: David Habchy
DOP: Nadim Sawma
Animation & Modeling: Emile Jalkh, Avak Avakian, Ashley Choukeir
Colorist: Roy Loutfallah
Editing: Wajdi Elian, David Habchy
Music: Karim Khneisser

This was indeed a big challenge for me. I knew before all aspects of real footage and compositing using chroma but i never tried it all together. working with a group of professional talented people made everything easier than i expected; and again gave me the energy and the will to handle bigger projects with lots of risks.

Thanks for all the lovely people who worked on this project; all the technicians, actors, animators, and all the rest of the crew...

I hope you ll enjoy it and i m ready to hear your feedback.

This s my first project of its kind and i want to learn more :)

Wehde By Salam

2011-08-18T03:44:00.001-07:00

a random set of photos by Salam El Hassam from Syria :)

Tania Saleh's Wehde Album looks great in Salam's set !

Thank you Salam, ya esteiz ...

Collage Workshop

2011-08-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

During a collage workshop in Cairo with Darb 1718

BangBang Effect - Jordan

2011-07-28T12:10:00.001-07:00

The BangBang Effect in Amman with Nour Bishouty

الكيلوت المناسب

2011-07-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

تابوت للمدينة

2011-07-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

Haltabees on IPad

2011-07-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

On the 25th of July, Haltabees will be on IPAD application :)

I can't wait to see the book animated with its own music !

Thanks to Rania and Riad for spreading fun and creativity for kids in new forms.

The application was developed by BIPOL, Canada.

BPG Campaign - Silver Lion in Cannes

2011-07-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Leo Burnett Beirut won the Silver Lion in Cannes for BPG integrated campaign. The campaign included 3 outdoors, 1 film, 2 TV stunts, 3 radio stunts, mall stunt, mall installation, facebook fake profiles, newsaper stunt and much more ...

I did the outdoor visuals and I feel proud to be part of this amazing creative team.

Mabrook for everyone :)

Freez Black

2011-05-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here is Kassatly Chtaura's new AD to introduce the new flavor Freez Black. Working on the sexy concepts of Nathalie Masri is always fun and daring in the advertising world. Our projects are turning into pleasure specially with Fouad Mezher, Ashley Choukeir and Karim Kneisser. I think we are building an ideal team, at least for me :)

much love for all the effort and trust.

Client: Kassatly Chtaura - Freez

Creative: Nathalie Masri
Illustration: David Habchy & Fouad Mezher
Character Animation: Ashley Choukeir
Layout Design & Animation: David Habchy

Music : Karim Kneisser

Puppet Making for Stop Motion

2011-05-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

Last month, I lived one of the most intensive and charming weeks of my life. I had the chance to give a workshop in Puppet making for animation where i met nine of the most inspiring artists from Lebanon and the arab world. It all happened within Beirut Animated Festival, in its second edition, organized by Cinema Metropolis and Samandal Magazine.

The participants had different backgrounds; printmaking, illustration, 2D and 3D animation, music, cinema ... and this mixture gave a great potential to start the workshop with.

The schedule of the workshop was so challenging; we had to finish 9 puppets with all their accessories, decide on a story, do the storyboard and move to the animation part, editing and music.

How to do all these tasks in one week with participants who are not all familiar with puppet making and stop motion animation ?

Above these limitations, something unexpected happened; a great group energy multiplied our efforts. We used to work till 5 am in the morning, take shifts sometimes, reschedule everything for one reason; we love what we do. We kept enjoying our time till the last minute of the workshop and we finished the movie just before the screening schedule of the festival.

The movie was short but with great potential and a lot of love.

I learned a lot from this workshop. Now i really believe that everything is possible when you meet the right people.

Thanks everyone for believing in this project and i hope we ll have the chance one more time to rock ...

Please watch the Short movie we did and the workshop process.

Workshop Moderator: David Habchy
Assistants : Ashley Choukeir, Nadim Saoma.
Participants:
Lama Sawaya
Nour Bishouty
Ahmad Beiruty
Avak Avakian
Elie Maatouk
Salam Al Hassan
Nadia Rais
Ghalia Al Barghouthi
Mohamed Fathi

The workshop took place in two amazing animation studios in Lebanon; La Palma & Kurio motion studios.

Thanks to Sarah Maali and Joelle Kiame for their great help :)

Thanks to AFAC for funding this workshop.

Wehde - 1

2011-05-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

Last saturday, i was on my way from Beirut to Egypt when i saw in Virgin Megastore Tania Saleh's new album "Wehde" shining as the number one most selling album :)

It feels so good after all the hard work, to be appreciated by the audience.

Thanks everyone for suporting Lebanese artists' efforts .

Tania Saleh - Wehde Music CD

2011-05-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

For many reasons, this is one of my favorite projects i did so far. It s the Music CD of Tania Saleh's new album "Wehde". I m a big fan of Tania's music; when i discovered her first album, i kept looping the songs specially "habibi khelsoo l dafater" that i adore. Now, here i am designing her new album.

Thanks Tania for the opportunity and for believing in me :)

The Design process of the CD was not that easy. When we started brainstorming, Tania, William Choukeir and me, we wanted to create an experience throughout the CD, a journey where you discover a hidden world. William designed this brilliant package that brings a music CD out of its borders.

This unfolding act leads to a panoramic format. It s perfect for the Wehde scene on the corniche of Beirut where all the lebanese citizens from different backgrounds are gathered.

Tania and Maria Ghazzaoui went to the corniche and took many pictures as a reference for the coming steps.

I used some of the photos, distorted them and later added some illustrations to create the characters like the yanaseeb guy.

Aalia is my favorite character in the CD and it started from this sketch and later i added some newspaper texture and some colors.

All the other illustrations in the CD started with pencil drawings and edited later digitally. i photographed as well a lot of papers as a base for the illustrations.

some parts are done separately and combined into one composition digitally.

The cover and back cover, was based on a photo for Tania Saleh by the amaziiiing photographer Tanya Traboulsi. The styling goes to Petra Abou Sleiman, a pretty lady with a great sense of "zo2". I did some color correction for the photos so they fit the CD atmosphere and added some pencil drawings and paper cuts on top.

Here is a preview of most of the album. But this is not to be compared with the feeling of the printed CD. so GO BUY IT ! :D

Tania Saleh's CD is available in all Virgin Megastores and in case you don't find it, just wait few days and you ll get it coz the CD is being sold like crazy and it s now # 2 best selling after Feiruz :)

Tania Saleh - Wehde Website

2011-05-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hello jami3an,

I proudly present for you Tania Saleh's new website, designed for her new album "Wehde" :)

George Rouhana is the interactive designer behind this amazing website. Tania, George and me had long discussions about how to design the website and the mixture of George' logic, practicality and great sense of design and animation along with Tania's conceptual, artistic background and the love for details was a great platform for my illustrations to grow. I m lucky again and again to work with these people, work is not really work anymore ...

Tania Saleh live in concert at Pierre Abou Khater Thater, USJ, Damascus road, May 5 & 6 at 9 pm. you can't miss it :)

"WEHDE" video clip - Making of

2011-04-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

for the last five months, i've been collaborating with other Lebanese artists. This collective work refreshed all my working process and brought a lot of excitement. One of these projects involved the great director Amin Dora that i really appreciate his work, Nadim Sawma who s full of energy, knowledge and talent, Ashley Choukeir that i've been enjoying the work with her for the past seven years and the amazing Tania Saleh whom i m lucky to have her in my life.

The project was a video clip for the song "Wehde", from the new music album for Tania Saleh.

We mixed stop-motion animation with 2D animation and it was not that easy.

First, Amin and Nadim filmed the stop-motion part frame by frame for many weeks and they created many mechanisms for each scene. They took footage for Tania singing "Wehde", that was displayed later in the old tv of the stop-motion set. Later, we moved into creating the character design and animation and later integrate it into the scenes.

here are the steps leading to the final male character. we did the shirt with papier-mache, took a photo and edited it digitally.

Testing the male character on the already shot background.

old fashion drawing cutouts, printed and later photographed and edited into one composition to create the female character.

testing both characters on the video visuals.

integrate the characters into the scenes and decide where to position each with the choice of the motion.

we did all the character related sets with papers and crafts. we added all the visuals later to the main book shot in stop motion.

again, more cutouts to include in the visuals and sometimes we took additional photos for the papers in perspective like the skirt at the end following the perspective of the shots.

time for fun, or else we explode !

more compositing on the original book. the photos are later animated with after effects with a lot of masking. this was the hardest part maybe because we have to animated the masks sometimes frame by frame, knowing that the scenes are in stop-motion and the movement is never linear.

adding more papier mache objects to the set.

the house was done with old lebanese money, printed and later folded and some parts were animated in stop motion like the window.

the opening of the paper is also shot in stop-motion technique and later, we added the character to the scene.

the ending closing paper was printed, edited with some brush strokes. later we added water so we can animate it easily and in a very accurate way but we had to do it really fast before it dries.

after all these shots and composition, comes the character animation. ideally, the best thing to do is to do everything in stop motion but it will take us ages. so we moved into 2D character animation using a software called Anim Studio. with this software, you can add a bone structure to your characters, so later you can control the animation and the time effectively.

At the end, we edit all the scenes on After Effects and since the files are really huge and complicated, we experienced a looot of crashes. but we survived al hamdou lellah ...

Finally, the artist Tania Saleh checking the video with a bunch of excited friends ...

Thanks for everyone who worked on this clip and for Tania who believed in the group.

You can check always the video clip in here.

Hope this post adds more excitement to your day :)

kissezzzz

"Wehde" video clip

2011-04-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

I m glad to share with you "Wehde", the new video clip for Tania Saleh. "Wehde" is the second video from Tania Saleh's new music album freshly released. I will post soon the making of the clip. Check it and tell me your feedback.

Video Clip created by Amin Dora, Ashley Choukeir, Nadim Saouma, and me.

Enjoy it :)

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair - 2011

2011-04-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

Last month, I was invited by Kitab to participate in Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2011, Illustrators' Corner. It was my first visit to the UAE where i was overwhelmed with the respect they showed me. It was an amazing experience that i will definitely repeat any other time.

The following are some photos from the opening of the illustrators' corner the first day of the fair.

Other illustrators checking the work i exhibited in the fair. Oliver and his students from Cartoon Network Academy watching some of my animation work.

Meeting the lovely Bea and Rosine from L'agenda Gulf that chose Haltabees as a cover for their march issue. Sulaf wrote an amazing article in L'agenda after reading Haltabees with her kids. Check it in here. Tx Sulaf and the boys :)

We filled the table in the Illustrators' corner with loads of illustrations and i had my portrait drawn by Omar Jaramillo :)

My lecture "The Making of Visual Art" that covers new forms of media in the visual art scene and talks about the relationship between the different types and how they are implemented.

Later, i had an amazing time with the kids reading the books and showing them some animations.

I shared as well some of the puppet making techniques i learned in different workshops with the illustrators and we did a spontaneous workshop for 2 days.

The festival organized a cruise tour in Abu Dhabi full of chats, food and trallala moments :)

In addition to the great lectures i attended and all the connections i made, i met some beautiful amazing friends that i will try to keep forever ...

Thanks for Kitab, Alexandra, Julia all the staff (except Erin Cox), for the amazing opportunity, and please meet the amazing illustrators and check their work:

Samir Minimarket

2011-04-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

أعطوني سمانة سمير وخذوا سوبرماركات العالم

Sketches 3, 11

2011-04-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

BPG Awareness Campaign

2011-04-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone :)
This is a project i did for the Brand Protection Group with Leo Burnett, Beirut.
The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness concerning counterfeit products in Lebanon.
for more information, please check this link.

a couple of photos from the shooting day with the amazing Joanna, Adrea and Vanessa :)

Thanks a lot to Tania and Nayla ...

Ashekman - Ya Reit

2011-03-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

Ashekman is a Lebanese Hip Hop band and this is their new Video Clip "Ya Reit". I worked along with the Konstrukt; the sexy Michel Karsouny and the super talented Fouad Mezher :)

animating the illustrations of Fouad was more than exciting since we both share the love for details.

Thanks to Alain Nasnas, Omar, Mohammed, Michel and Fouad for the great time :)

Here is the video clip, hope you ll enjoy it as much as we enjoyed the process ...

Stop Motion Workshop - Call for Entry

2011-02-25T12:41:00.000-08:00

Within the framework of the 2nd edition of Beirut Animated organized by the Metropolis Association and the Samandal Magazine (2-7 May, 2011), I will give a workshop on Stop-Motion Animation between the 1st and the 7th of May, 2011.

Please check this link for more details : http://metropoliscinema.net/BA_workshop.html

w yalla :)

في طَور التطهير

2011-02-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

Agenda Culturel # 388

2011-02-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning, went shopping for food, got the Agenda Culturel with other vegetable groceries :)

Go get your own copy and check the cover page that i submitted for the Valentine's issue.

Happy Valentines men halla2 :)

Haltabees Flying with MEA arilines

2011-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

Haltabees is now flying with other Al Khayat Al Saghir books with MEA airlines :)

so whenever you are flying with MEA, you can ask for the book and enjoy your trip !

hurrey :)

مصر ♥ Egypt

2011-01-30T23:23:00.000-08:00

Dedicated to Egypt, to Cairo that was always alive, full of beautiful people and life. Respect to all my egyptian friends transforming the History of Egypt, i wish you peace and God bless you.
This short animation is inspired from Mohammed Fathi's photos. music for Ziad Rahbani, Houdou' Nesbi.

Klekeesh on Mazaj - Futur TV

2011-01-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

This segment is kind of old but it reminds me of a wonderful friend, Farah Alameh :)

Exhibition with Samandal

2010-12-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone :)

This is an invitation to Samandal exhibition on wed 22 December at Dar Al Musawwir, Clemenceau.

I will be Participating so try to come and we ll party :)

سائقة التاكسي

2010-12-06T02:17:00.000-08:00

i did this illustration for TEDx Ramallah based on an inspiring story about a palestinian-disabled woman that works as a taxi driver in Beirut.

You can check the article in issue # 8 of Hibr Newspaper or on Ted x Ramallah's website in arabic or in english.

some special music from Berlin

2010-11-23T03:25:00.000-08:00

When i was participating in Berlin Literature Festival, i met a very special person, Lucid.

She is an amazing singer, songwriter living in Frankfurt.

She played a lot of beautiful live music before every reading in the festival, and here is her song before i presented my book Haltabees.

you can hear "Lamees" in the song, the love of Haltabees.

Thanks a lot Lucid for sharing.

and enjoy it everyone :)

Berlin Literature Festival 2010

2010-11-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Last september, i was invited to participate in Berlin International Literature Festival.

The organizers first saw my book, "Haltabees Haltabees" written by Rania Zaghir and published by al khayat al saghir, in Bologna book fair, Italy where they discovered the book and invited me to participate in their International Children's and Youth Literature section.

Let me say i was honored to participate at the age of 25, with my first book, in this amazing festival next to brilliant illustrators and authors like Shaun Tan, Philippe Lechemier, Emily Gravett, Eva Muggenthaler and many others.

The festival was extremely well organized and the amazing thing about it that i visited a lot of german schools, children's museums, libraries, and i was able in a short period of time to have a looot of wonderful souvenirs from this lovely capital Berlin.

i read my book for hundreds of kids living in Germany. the book was translated to german, but kids wanted to hear it in arabic and they enjoyed it :)

i did some stop motion workshops for some schools and i learned a lot from kids. some other schools did workshops based on my book before i met them and presented the work for me. it was overwhelming to see kids performing some plays based on Haltabees, or doing group illustrations using my style of illustration. some presentations were just funny like kids talking about how they imagined i look like after they saw the book :)

i had a lot of fun with those wonderful kids, with the authors and illustrators from the festival, with the organizers specially in the parties at the end of each day :)

i did a video that describes a bit what was happening :)

tx a looot for the amazing people i met; Ina, Katrin, Mahmoud, Claudia, Inga, Christina, Alex ....

Giselle & Na3eem are Back !

2010-11-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

Na3eem B3ayne & Giselle Nasale are back !

They posted their movies on youtube !

Probably, Kassatly Buzz will take them and broadcast it on TV.

Na3eem in a desperate call ...

Gizo speaks out ...

Check it, share it and hope u like it :)

Timout Beirut - PhotoFinish

2010-11-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Last month, Ellen Hardy from TimeOut Beirut contacted me to participate in their PhotoFinish section. it was fun working with Ellen, who gave me a Photo of an old Lebanese house and i had to do a comic strip inspired from it.

the original photo from Ellen

the end result :) (from right to left since it s in arabic)

it s now out in November's Time Out beirut issue. Go check it and hope you like it :)

Thanks Ellen

Some Old Sketches

2010-11-01T02:36:00.000-07:00

PICON

2010-10-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is another illustrated and animated campaign with agency Leo Burnett Beirut.

The client is Picon, and it is the back to school promo entitled "a2wa rass bi Lebnein" :)

it s a competition on Picon's website that challenges the kids knowledge about Lebanon.

Here are the key visuals i did for the campaign.

i had to do all the elements in the illustrations with a simple contour line so the production team can add die-cuts easily, specially that part of the campaign is to do pop-up stands in supermarkets.

Just after the visuals, we moved to the animated TVC Ad. I did the animation together with the great Ashley Choukeir :) tx Ash.

Enjoy the animation and i hope you like the project :)

في البراري

2010-10-11T02:08:00.000-07:00

لمحته في البراري

يرقص ويبشّر بزمن الإنحراف

photo by Mohamed Fathi

Egypt - مصر

2010-09-02T10:33:00.001-07:00

last month, i was in Egypt; a country full of colors, textures, patterns, and women who want to get married ...

TreeShirt & Hamra Expo

2010-09-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

"أشعار للمياه" is a project combining illustration and poetry between Soha Awwad and me. Our aim is to integrate poetry into society using different techniques. we did before an animation and now we finished this hand made book. i learned binding techniques in a workshop with Sofi Eicher, tx Sofi :)

we presented the book with other materials in the Arabic Language Festival in Hamra since Soha's poetry is in arabic.

in this festival, we introduced "Treeshirt", another project, derived from this poetry - illustration collaboration.

What is Treeshirt? this is how they define themselves :

Treeshirt is for everyone with an eye for cool designs and a passion for making this world a better place to live in.

With a growing selection of original designs created by a group of talented artists.Whether it’s about making the world a greener place, a more peaceful place or simply sharing your take on life, love and everything in between, TreeShirts are the tees for you!For its mission, TreeShirt is helping in the reforestation of Lebanon that’s why every time you buy a TreeShirt product, a share of its revenue will be donated to the AFDC (Association for Forest Development and Conservation), and they will use it to reforest areas all around Lebanon. You’ll also receive with your TreeShirt a special edition package so you can make your life a bit greener too.TreeShirt, we’re all about changing the world one idea at a time. By buying our awesome tees, not only will you look great but you’ll also making a difference in our community and the world.Treeshirt. Look great. Live green

this is the design we did for Treeshirt and it s entitled "Intoxication";

for all those searching for the perfect cycle, we offer a leap, a free fall into the world of intoxication.

ok, if you like the idea, just go to this link, buy a shirt, tghandaroo fiya, and save a tree :)

wa shukrann !

الحق عالطليان

2010-08-03T03:09:00.000-07:00

"El 7a2 3al Telyein" is a new comic published in Samandal Magazine issue 9.

This comic is part of Let's comics project and i did it just after the Israeli troops attacked the Turkish aid ship sailing for the Gaza Strip.

All participants attended a workshop in the Palestinian Youth Center inside Chatila camp where we exhibited the comics we did. (tx Jana Lazarevska for the photos)

here is the comic i did :

Tx :)

Soha & Fadi

2010-07-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Soha = 15 years of extreme friendship, respect, creativity, music, passion ...

Fadi = unknown creature living in Egypt who wants to marry Soha :)

Soha + Fadi = love, wedding, paranoia & mustard :p

halla2 3anjadd, I love u guys ktir w mabrook men halla2 !

photo by Mohammed Fathi

Fadi, Soha and I decided to do a fresh wedding card without such accessories. Soha wanted a postcard so i designed an illustration on one side and the usual postcard layout with a twist from the other side.

the illustration is based on a poetry line that of course Soha wrote "الله في الحب انحناءة شجرة تظلل روحين" and the following are the steps leading to the final illustration.

and here is the wedding card, printed in pink to add more Trallallaa :)

on the other side, i designed some stamps for Soha and Fadi.

The lovely Soha enjoying the card :)

Mabrook ...

fresh summer press articles :)

2010-07-16T05:42:00.001-07:00

I was honored to participate in issue # 375 of l'Agenda Culturel. Since 1994, L'Agenda Culturel is one of the best references for cultural activities in Lebanon. Miss Grace Barmaki interviewed me and i replied with illustrations. check the interview, i hope you like it :)

Tx Grace.

Another Interview with Vanessa Bassil, from Al Mustaqbal Newspaper about blogging in Lebanon. Tx Vanessa.

في واحد طارق راسيل

2010-07-06T09:27:00.001-07:00

last sunday 4.7.2010 was the wedding of two sweet lovers : Tarek Bacha & Racelle Ishak.

let me say it was one of the most happy, amazing, unusual and simple wedding parties i ve ever attended. everyone was involved in the preparations and Love was in the air :D

i did this illustration for Tarek and Racelle and we made it part of the wedding ceremony :)

Tarek & Racelle discovering the gift.

loving the best bride Racelle ( bel 2ezen mennak 3arees )

i love u Tarek and Racelle and i really wish u a happppppy life wjamelkon :)

Puppet Animation - Prague / the Movie

2010-06-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

"Captured" is a stop motion movie done during the puppet animation workshop in Prague, May 2010. Enjoy :)

Puppet Animation - Prague

2010-06-15T08:30:00.001-07:00

Last may, i was in Prague for a Puppet Animation Workshop.

I discovered this workshop through the internet and it is the most interesting workshop i've attended so far. it was perfectly organized with great instructors who provided unique knowledge and an amazing experience ! i definitely recommend this workshop for puppet animation and stop motion lovers.

For ten years, Mirek Trejtnar and Leah Gaffen have been organizing puppet workshops for students from around the world. Mirek heads the workshops - he is a puppet-maker himself and also a designer of toys, sculpture and much more with a special background in wood. Leah is an American who takes care of the organizational side of the workshops. Together Leah and Mirek bring together a team of leading Czech artists - woodcarvers, puppet designers, puppeteers, film animators, etc.- who bring the students into the world of puppetry in Prague.

i was lucky to be one of the eight participants in this workshop and i tried to document for you as much as i can from what happened during the 10 days.

the first day, we met in the KID studio where we worked most of the time surrounded by puppets ,wood and toys. and this is where i met the other lovely participants.

the first two days, we were asked to come up with a short story and do the storyboard. we also had to animate the movie in "stop motion" technique using a selection of professional finished puppets and in two different sets in Hafan Studio. we succeeded in accomplishing the mission with the help of one of the best czech animators, Lenka Krizova.

discussing the storyboard & sleeping akid.

the participants left some illustrations on the walls of the Hafan Studio

after we finished the movie, it was time to create our own puppets supervised by Mirek Trejtnar and Zdar Storm, the specialist on building puppets for animated film. and here are the sketches i did for my character "Bahman". you can see as well the technical drawings for the same puppet.

cutting the basic shape of wood cubes for the head, chest and pelvis based on the technical drawing.

carving the head, and this was not easy because it was the first time i worked with wood.

a lecture about how to make hands for animated puppets in the studio of Jaroslav Bezdek.

everyone modeling the hands of their puppets. the latex was added later over the metal base so the hand can contain wires for animation.

group photo with the instructor, Jaroslav Bezdek using some latex accessories :)

in the end, we received the latex hands we did in a chocolate box.

metal studio: Milan Vins is teaching us how to make an armature.

back to the KID studio to finish the puppet by connecting all the wooden parts with metal wires and covering the armature with foam.

other participants' work in progress.

and "Bahman", the puppet, getting dressed for the group photo.

the nice thing about this workshop is that, we were given lectures by several film directors, producers, photographers, puppet builders and animators who are experts in their field.

one of the most interesting lectures was with Michaela Pavlatova, a czech director and artist who taught us how to create a film step by step. she also showed us the original illustrations she used in her animations.

another lecture about Production of animated films by the producer of Fimfarum, M. Vandas.

visiting different animation studios in Prague was very exciting; we saw the way they made things possible. they showed us how they animate the puppets, the original designs, how they build the sets, how they film and edit, everything !

and finally, I wouldn't have had this much fun if I were with any other group.

the people you see in the pictures below are the best animators, illustrators and most importantly, the best of friends.

Monica Masucci

Suraya Raja

Thank you all :)

check other photos here

منيح لما عندي تلفزيون

2010-06-12T00:54:00.000-07:00

انا ما عندي تلفزيون

بس مبارح حضرت شي عند اهلي

شي اسمو مايك فغالي، السلام ع إسمو

وين بعدنا

Buzz - Na3eem B3ayneh

2010-06-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

Name: Na3eem B3ayneh

Problem : Na3eem can no longer look into the eyes of his friends (Ma 2elo 3ein). His girlfriend is taking up all his time and he can't stand it anymore!

Advice: Drink Buzz :)

____________________________

Agency: Tony Khoueiry & Nathalie Masri

Client: Kassatly Chtaura Buzz

Character Modeling & Animation: Ashley Phebe Choukeir

Layout Design & Animation : David Habchy

Audio: Amadeus Awad

check a lower resolution movie here on Youtube.

Buzz - Giselle Nasale

2010-06-01T05:28:00.000-07:00

Name: Gizelle Nasale

Age : 20 to 30 years

Number of plastic surgeries: Unlimited

Nationality: Lebanese

Sex: yes

Problem : Gizelle is extremely pissed off because despite the numerous surgeries she's done, she can't seem to find a guy!

Advice: Drink Buzz :)

____________________________

Agency: Tony Khoueiry & Nathalie Masri

Client: Kassatly Chtaura Buzz

Character Modeling & Animation: Ashley Phebe Choukeir

Layout Design & Animation : David Habchy

Audio: Amadeus Awad

check a lower resolution movie here on Youtube

Italy train sketches

2010-05-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

لما بكون المشوار ٥ ساعات بالتران، إي حلو ترسم

Beyroutes - A Guide To Beirut

2010-05-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

"Beyroutes", the intimate guide book for Beirut, is the result of a one week workshop that involved illustrators, photographers, journalists and architects from Lebanon and Holland. the project was initiated by Studio Beirut and supported by Partizian Publik, Archis and Pearl Foundation. We worked in groups to cover 4 geographical areas in Beirut; Hamra, Ashrafieh, Bourj Hammoud and Dahye.

Dahye in 2006.

“Ahlan wa Sahlan” to Dahyeh: Welcome to Dahyeh… to you and was for me too, my very own first time, a Lebanese animator and illustrator, never acquainted with the actual reality of Dahyeh, a tourist in my own land. Once down there, I would say Dahyeh resembles the playfield inside a Flipper game… This being said, of course I related myself to that little shiny ball, that is in constant movement, propelled back and forth by any encounter with the switches and buttons! You as a tourist, are the same in Dahyeh, you are as shiny and glowing as an intruder could be!! You are of course lost, with no notion of direction, bumping back and forth from one checkpoint and landmark to another, which of course fill this field up… Being in Dahyeh is being in a state of constant agitation and activity, for you can never settle in one place. But no matter how lost you will be, by the end of the day you are out, merely because there are no hotels to house you here!

other artworks about my experience in Dahye.

an illustration for a story we heard about a nude photographer in Dahye. strange job in a conservative region.

my presentation in Pecha Kucha 4 long time ago :) but amazing experience

جونيه ٢١-٤-٢٠١٠

2010-04-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

a walk in Jounieh, Lebanon in the early morning. it was raining during the night, the morning looks so fresh.

press articles again :)

2010-04-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

Nahar Al Shabab article, by Hanadi Dairi, 8,4,2010

Valerie Pezeron from DIA, the fashion magazine based in UK, wrote this article, check it here.

thanks :)

حلم ٤-٣-٢٠١٠

2010-04-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

a dream 4-3-10

وضعوا لها يد زوجها في صوفٍ حاكته بنفسها، بيدها ثم لبست معطفاً استعارته من رونيه اللتي وصلت الآن

تشكيلة صيفية ١

2010-03-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

men's summer collection 1

الاستاذ صالح

2010-03-23T04:52:00.000-07:00

الى تانيا صالح

Letter from Jad

2010-03-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

for all those who loved Jad, this is a letter i got from him yesterday. isn't he extremely sweet ? :)

25

2010-03-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. i m 25 years old now. the last two years were full of extreme moments & emotions. things changed in my life, my work, people surrounding me. i met a lot of new people that i admire and i want to thank them for their beautiful energy and for the happiness we shared. lately, everyone is searching for his own path, i believe at this age, many people are experiencing the same. i want to tell all my friends that i think about them every day even if they see me overloaded with projects and tasks. thanks for accepting the David you know and i love you all :)

ok, i consider this beautiful drawing the best birthday gift. i got this email two weeks ago from a friend :

"Jad is 9 years old, he is not a big fan of books...
today, we had a fight before reading the book while working in the session, and we agreed to read the first two pages and if he doesn't like it, we'll stop...
needless to say, he decided to read it all...
He was very sad when lamees married "3arnous el dora"...
and I asked him: Isn't it a fun book?
and he said: it IS fun, but I'm sad that 7altabees is not feeling ok now :(
then he got his smile back when 7altabees travelled to planet zouranees, and remained between earth and zouranees and started writing poetry...
I then asked him to draw the part he liked the most...
He first wanted to draw 7altabees kicking the 3arnous' ass...
but then he said, No no wait, this didn't happen...
the part I liked the most was when he travelled to zouraneess...
and we closed the book, put it back in the library and he did the attached drawing...
the planet in multicolor is zouranees...
7altabees is colored in blue and red cos he is touching a blue and red star...
and he said to me: this star will make him feel better, and will color him to look prettier, maybe lamees would love him now... :)
I thought you should take a look at this :)
Greetings..."

Thanks Wissam for sharing this with me and million thanks for you Jad ! you are beautiful :)

now let me share with you some recent interviews. Maroun Kassab from Lebrecord interviewed me and here is the link. i love this article bass ma ba3ref lei :)

The beautiful Farah Alame did many interviews with me before but this recent segment is about klekeesh. i love the way she works ! thanks Farah for everything! note: click on the 15-3-10 episode on this website .

Natasha Dirany from Timeout Beirut chose me for the "in the studio" section in the last magazine issue. thanks Natasha and here is the link.

Kassatly Chtaura apple juice TVC

2010-03-04T18:47:00.000-08:00

we freshly finished this television Ad for Kassatly Chtaura new apple juice.

Nathalie Masri & Tony Khoueiry, a fresh young energetic team ;) that worked a lot in advertising, created an independent agency and this is one of their first projects. they did the concept of this campaign and asked me to do the animation. let me say it was really fun working with them !

this year, i decided to focus more on the group work, specially in the illustration part. Ghadi Ghosn, or "king of ogres" helped me in the visuals; he drew the elements and inked them. i did the color rendering, the composition and character design and prepared them for animation. Ashley Choukeir , akid, took all the thousand layers and animated them with a smile on her face :) she s amazing ! we finished the animation and we moved to the music part. Karim Khneisser, a talented young composer, did the music in his studio somewhere in the streets of Achrafieh :) Christelle Franca, assisted in the process and we thank her for her positive energy always !

wbass ! I hope u like it.

za second Book

2010-03-01T21:14:00.001-08:00

the second book for "Haltabees" is now OUT :) it s entitled "حلتبيس حلتبيس : أشعار من سمسم وخيار" and it s a poetry book for children about Love written by Rania Zaghir and published by al Khayyat al saghir. it s available in Arche de Noe library in Hamra and soon will be available in other libraries. I attached some photos of the book and illustrations. enjoy :)

Making of Haltabees Poetry Book

2010-02-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

as usual, the best part for me, is to share the making of the book with you :)

this book is the second book in the series "Haltabees" so i used the same mixed media technique that i used in the first book. however, the color palette is brighter and less contrasty.

a basic version of spread 1 inside the book. later, i changed the hierarchy of the elements to give more importance to the "Kebbe", a traditional lebanese food item. i added more depth to the illustration by adding the blurred background and the light with uniform shadows on all other elements.

spread 1 done.

in spread 2, "Abd l Halim Hafez" was mentioned in the text and i was lucky to have bought before this disc from an old library in Hamra so i took a photo with the sesame background. however, i was not happy with the foam effect.

chasing balloons in the studio was hectic. but at the end, i managed to avoid blurry photos. tx Kevin :)

spread 2 done & dedicated to mOmO and Egypt :)

i wanted to illustrate a telephone so i used this vintage phonebook that i bought for free from Jounieh, where i live :) i changed the original latin numbers into arabic numbers with a twist of love.

taking photos of Haltabees was a main step in the process, but it was harder this time coz Haltabees, the clay character is getting older so the clay is becoming dryer :s

i used different patterns from gift wrapping for the background of the illustrations.

tx to Hanane & Ashley for posing :)

spread 3 before applying textures to Lamees and without Haltabees.

spread 3 done.

some Luxury objects found in a shop called "Tansa" in Jounieh. the owner of this shop was not sure about my interest in Dentelles :)

to the right, the making of the castle done from cardboard and clay.

finishing the castle but from one view only. you can see the mess from other views.

spread 4 done.

the title page

the sherpa proof from the printing press to make sure of the colors.

za parents checking the printed book but it seems they are more happy with the camera than the book.

the biggest assistant ever Mr. Pierre Boutros.

a BIG thank you for Hanane Kai who assisted me in the research and illustrations for this book. i love u Hannouch !

Launching of za second book photos

2010-02-28T22:25:00.001-08:00

last saturday, 27 feb. 2010, was the launching event for my second children's illustration book: "حلتبيس حلتبيس، أشعار من سمسم وخيار". This time it s a poetry book for children; a new adventure with the author Rania Zaghir published by al khayyat al saghir.

we were supposed to celebrate in the streets of Hamra, Beirut, facing a pub called Dany's. it was raining, so we moved inside, to a small warm room in Dany's. i was tired, coming back from a looong meeting and an animation workshop @ Zico house. i forgot all my hectic day when i saw Tania Saleh and her lovely kids Karim & Tarek sitting in the pub listening to the amazing Mashrou3 Leila rehearsing on the new songs they composed based on the poems of the book. i love this band, and hearing them singing the text inside the new book was a beautiful experience ! Thanks Mashrou3 Leila !

shway shway, the place became more and more crowded till it was filled with lovely people and one more time, love was in the air, Cucumbers and sesame as well :) Thanks for all the beautiful people who attended the event, who called and sent messages and for my friends in Egypt, Jordan... you are a huge support ! i love u all.

lovely people

lovely band Mashrou3 Leila

Launching of za second book :)

2010-02-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

ok, this is the brochure for the launching of my second illustration book : "حلتبيس حلتبيس : اشعار من سمسم وخيار". the text is for Rania Zaghir and published by al khayyat al saghir. this time, it s a festival with the live sexy lebanese band Mashrou3 Leila. all the details are attached, enjoy :) i ll be waiting for you, so 3eib ma tejo ;)

سحبه

2010-02-15T08:48:00.000-08:00

"Sahbeh" is a project by Mona Merhi, funded by Beirut World Book Capital and with the support of the Ministry of Education. This project helps integrating the concept of reading in the lebanese society. the approach is new; the book will find you !

"Sahbeh" is an old lebanese gadget that used to be distributed for children in shops as a random gift. "Sahbeh", now, is a mini-book that will be distributed in public areas such as supermarkets and some schools (everyone throws away certain coins - 50 l.l. and 100 l.l coins - because this amount of money buys nothing and no one would like to keep it. therefore, instead of supermarkets giving coins that nobody will use, the cashier will offer sahbeh mini book).

The mini books contain excerpts of books (novel, poems, short story, essays..) the latter are either written by famous writers including locals and internationals.

"فضيت مشطين" & "تصريح" are two short texts for Soha Awwad, selected by "Sahbeh" project to be published. I illustrated the two texts and here are some previews of the book and the illustrations.

Enjoy :)

"تصريح"

اتصل بي المرجع الأعلى منذ قليل.

يبلغ تحيّاته للجميع.

لا معركة اليوم.

عودوا إلى بيوتكم و ارتاحوا.

اكتشفنا أنّهم ناس أيضًا.

لا نستطيع قتلهم. عيب ما بجوز.

سنبلغكم أيّ جديد،

حالما تردنا الأنباء.

ابقوا مستعدين. بنادقكم نظيفة.

و شكرًا لتعاونكم.

"فضيت مشطين"

أترى كل هذه الغيوم في السماء

و الدخان المتصاعد من أنوف الجثث؟

كل هذه الفوضى أنا مسوؤلة عنها.

إليك ما حدث:

بعد الظهر فضيت مشطين

برأس مستأجر في حاجز يريد التدقيق

بالكلمات المكتوبة على قميصي

و حذائي و كلساتي و أقراط أذنيّ...

فضيت مشطين برأس عاطل عن العمل

يبشّر بحلّ للأزمة الراهنة،

ببناء دولة المؤسسات، بالافراج عن كل المعتقلين،

و بالسلام العادل و الشامل في المنطقة...

وينتظر مني أن أرسل له معاشه عبر البريد

كي لا يضطر أن يواجه الواقع في الخارج.

فضيت مشطين برأس كل يقطينة في الحقل نضجت قبل آوانها

عندما أمرها قائد زواريب اليقطين بالانفجار.

كلّهم، أجل كلّهم متساوون

أمام رشاشي الجديد الملمع.

كلّهم، دخان أبيض عندما أكون مستعدّة.

و أنا دائمًا مستعدّة!

All in 1 Box Exhibition

2010-01-28T12:20:00.001-08:00

"All in 1 Box" Exhibition is the result of a six-day collaboration workshop between 22 illustrators from Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. we sat in the running horse gallery to experiment and explore different ways of illustration far from our safe zones.

the "All in 1 box" exhibition will run from 25 to 30 of January 2010 inThe Running Horse Contemporary Art Space in Beirut

and one BOX will travel to other venues: mainly in public libraries in Lebanon

Here is the schedule:

-Beirut, Bashoura Public Library

15. 2.10 until 27.2.10

- Baalbeck Public Library

15. 3.10 until 27.3.10

-Bikfaya Public Library

12.4.10 until 24.4.10

- Sour Public Library

17.5.10 until 29.5.10

-Tripoli- Mina Public Library

14.6.10 until 26.6.10

photos from the opening in the running horse gallery

"Abir wal Khanzir" or "Abir & the Pig"

"Abir wal Khanzir", my research project in this workshop, is a collaborative story based on one visual i did the first day. I hope it will be published one day :)

Helle Vibeke Jensen teaching Omar, Nour and me Japanese binding through an overwhelming ritual :)

the mapping of almost all projects.

an adaptation of the illustrated character "Abir" on my head . Nour Bishouti and I did this experiment and here is the video of Abir moving :)

tx to all the participants and the trainers for being crazy :)

حدا بيشبهني

2010-01-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

في اشيا بتشبه بعضا

متل مغلّف النودلز ومغلّف الواقي الذكري

انا مين بيشبهني ؟

Vitrine - Poster

2010-01-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

"Vitrine", a new play for Nehmeh Nehmeh with the amazing actresses Aida Sabra & Julia Kassar ! I had the chance to work on the poster with therefordesign studio.

first, we did the photo-shoot with Elias Moubarak. later, the portraits were edited on photoshop to give the mannequin look. the challenge was to keep the characteristics of the actresses. "Vitrine" in arabic was written using a typeface but modified to give a calligraphy feeling.

the following are the bald characters before adding the hair.

and here is the final poster :)

I did a tour today to take photos of the posters on Hamra walls. the following poster was modified by the parking guy i suppose; he turned Aida into a pirate !

the posters in different locations

I prepared some animations that will be projected during the play.

I m very excited to see the result of the combination between the animation, performance, lighting by Elias Maalouf and music by Cristelle Franca coz i love these guyz!

attending rehearsals was a great source of inspiration.

The play will start this friday 8 january @ 8:30 in al Madina theater. you can see it every thursday, friday, saturday and sunday.

Yalla, go check it and tell me your feedback !!!

Haltabees in Jordan :)

2010-01-06T08:50:00.001-08:00

well, Nour Bishouty is fe3lann amazing :) she took photos for Haltabees in Jordan:

in Hakawati book Store & Children Museum wtab3ann Nour's car :>

tx for Sarah for reading the book, hope u like it.

kisses for Nour, Sarah & Jordan ! ( bel ezen men Jack ;p )

Haltabees Book Trailer

2009-12-16T02:40:00.000-08:00

an animated trailer for "Haltabees", my first children illustration book.

Haltabees MakingOf

2009-12-16T01:28:00.000-08:00

"Haltabees" the book, printed and ready to be published by al Khayyat al Saghir :)

this book is written by Rania Saghir and illustrated by me.

process for creating the main character "Haltabees". first, the armature, volume, then adding the clay and coloring the face. the choice of clay is to show that "Haltabees" is sensitive and fragile just like the material.

Christy (neighbor) & Rania Saghir (the author) meeting Haltabees.

steps for one of the spreads : starting with a hand drawn illustration, shooting Haltabees in the right light and angle, leading to a digital full rendered illustration, placing the character inside the illustration, adjusting the colors and light and adding shadow.

the final illustration.

steps for another spread of the book; making the set of hearts to introduce the dream of Haltabees. many layers will be added to the photo, including photo collage, Haltabees and Lamees.

the final illustration

creating the street scene from clay and cardboards, trying different light positions and shooting the background street scene.

more steps for the same spread; shooting street details from the neighborhood and adding them digitally to the illustration. in addition to adding the character to the illustration.

the final illustration

a number of buildings, selected from photos, distorted digitally and set in a composition to create the final spread of the book.

the final spread after color correction and digital rendering.

shooting the cover. Pisto (the cat) supervising the process. the title is done also from clay.

the cover :)

a bonus spread that was not printed in the book :)

Haltabees Launching pics

2009-12-16T01:18:00.000-08:00

well malyoun tx for all who attended the launching event of my first children illustration book "Haltabees". Tx also for all those who called and sent msgs to support me :) love u all ya jame3a ! kisses

Haltabees Launching

2009-12-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

Launching of za book :)

2009-12-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

well, this is the invitation card for the launching event of my first illustration book for kids : "حلتبيس حلتبيس" with Rania Zaghir. the event will be in Biel during the book fair, Dec. 14 @ 6:45.

hope to see youuuu :)

أشعار للمياه

2009-11-18T05:55:00.000-08:00

أشعار للمياه is a new collective blog between Soha Awwad (poet)

& David Habchy (animator & illustrator).

check it out here

Hibr

2009-11-05T00:08:00.000-08:00

Klekeesh in Hibr newspaper issue # zero.

Hibr.me (حبر لبناني) (Lebanese Ink) is aiming to serve as a large-scale independent (unaffiliated to any sectarian or political group) youth & citizen media outlet in Lebanon that works in print (publishing a monthly free distribution newspaper), online (with regular content, discussions, multimedia, online collaborations, and more), and in person (with regular events, workshops, competitions, and other activities). Hibr is powered by young people while engaging all communities in Lebanon and the Lebanese diaspora community worldwide, and most content is licensed under a Creative Commons license to facilitate non-profit sharing of whatever information and content we create.

نقطة حمراء

2009-11-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

this is an old experimental animation that i did with Elias Moubarak & William Choukeir for the festival 8.8.8 that was organized by Xanadu & Ramzi Hibri. the poetry is for Soha Awwad.

here are few links about this animation

http://www.bandeapart.fm/blogue/Entree.aspx?id=74309

http://www.aljarida.it/aljarida_N_2.pdf

Ashekman - 7itan 3am Te7kineh

2009-10-20T01:42:00.000-07:00

This is a new video clip for the lebanese hip-hop rap band "Ashekman" for their new song "7itan 3am te7kineh" based on Tarek Chemaly book "Archewallogy/Les murs murs de la ville". I animated this video clip with Alain Nasnas (BAN).

enjoy :)

الورد جميل

2009-10-05T03:44:00.000-07:00

a trip to Baaklin in Chouf with Hanane, William, Youhanna & Momo.

Mc Donald

2009-09-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

كفتون

2009-09-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

the final rendering of the cave illustration :)

the cave illustration in process

a trip to Kaftoun in north lebanon with Hanane & William. it was raining so we sat down in a small cave and drew. I felt like a cavemen at home :)

Children's Book Illustration Course

2009-09-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

i took this course in Central Saint Martins in London last August with April Wilson

the course was about how to create a picture book through illustration. the following, are some applications for the given exercises: character creation and development both in 2D and in mixed media 3D, drawing facial expressions generated by these characters, creating a storyboard from a given text, book concept and design, composition and text placement

the lovely class :)

the instructor work and originals

the instructor April Wilson

class atmosphere

exploring new techniques and tools

check bea & Christina's work