Category: 2D Artwork

  • Pre-production Ideas/Concepts

    Pre-production Ideas/Concepts

    It makes no sense to learn a program or build a new workflow without first creating an idea that you want to implement it on. After all, a theory is no good unless it has been tested and proven in some way. And what better way to establish a good workflow than to throw it into the deep end?

    I’ve been playing around with ideas of your typical desi (it’s a real term) women and seeing what I can create and how I can possibly stylize them. These are early concepts, so I doubt they’ll actually exist in this exact form, however, I do want to explore this style for some future idea.

    Naturally, creating a natural habitat for them has been fun too, especially because I get to be all nostalgic about my old haunts during my school years. This is something I loved about my teens, nobody seemed to care where we went as long as we came back safe and sound. Maybe it’s like those memes about how 80’s parents never cared about their kids, and now we can’t get away from helicopter parents. But I’d like to think that life could get there again. After all, neighborhoods are created by people, and if we work to make our neighborhoods safe, then why wouldn’t our kids find fun places to go hang out, drink some chai and shoot the breeze with friends?

    Not any specific location, but every Karachiite on the planet should have a moment of nostalgia looking at this drawing. All that’s missing is a stray cat and some guy handing out tea.

  • The ’65 War, and The Green Army

    The ’65 War, and The Green Army

    I’ve been finding art from my student days, and it is really interesting to see my ideas after so many years.

    Take, for example, the idea I had for my BFA Thesis. I wanted to make a David and Goliath story, so I picked the real-life example of the Pak-India war of ’65.

    Now, I know what you’re thinking: there was no war! It was a skirmish, and PS, Pakistan LOST! Well, sorry! But that is total hogwash! Everything you read about this war has been altered to fit a different idea, and having us win would not help.

    As an art student in Lahore in 2000, I happened to spark a conversation with my local art supply store owner, who had been a teenager at the time of the war. And, as it happened, my grandfather was Joint-Secretary of Defense at the time, and as such, my own family members became an incredibly rich source of information about that war.

    I was so interested to hear about this war, I spoke to a number of locals in Lahore as well as my own family, and other adults who had been witness to the events of 1965. And then I decided to base my thesis on this research.

    In hindsight, I think I could have made a cool historical project and simulated a war-time propaganda campaign. But I was 20, and getting increasingly obsessed with the idea of becoming an animator, or some kind of graphic artist.

    I created a Disney movie concept, and used that as the basis for a movie ad-campaign. It wasn’t the best, but it was chockful of research!

    A mysterious green-clad army saves a small village under attack

    I blurred out the Walt Disney logo, just in case anyone takes offense!

  • Live Figure Drawing – recent

    Live Figure Drawing – recent

    One of the best exercises for a 3D rigger/animator. Studying the human form is a relaxing and fun pastime that I always try to make time for. I’ve been quite sporadic over the past 2 years, but I will keep updating this gallery as I dig out my drawings. Sorry about the visibly crinkled paper in some cases, I’ve moved house three times recently and am not used to preserving physical art anymore! 🙂

  • Exploring Ideas

    Exploring Ideas

    Ever since the Character Mosaic Project has become a reality in my life, I’ve been exploring faces and concepts of how different features can be stylized for animation. This has led to my dusting off some of my older sketchbooks too, and remembering what I used to see when I lived in Pakistan.

  • Digital Concept Gallery

    Digital Concept Gallery

    The germs of ideas that pop in and out of my head.

  • Dragons – Environments

    For this story, I realized it was super important to figure out the colors of the world and the relative scales of each feature. So I decided to start building the world and setting up the layouts so I could move into 3D cameras sooner rather than later.

  • Photography

    Photography

    Photography was a beautiful way of capturing details as I studied life and perfected my drawing skills.

    This is a small selection of the (many) pictures I developed during my Photography minor.

  • Personal Work

    Personal Work

    I have been an art student all my life and as such, worked in many mediums before discovering the world of animation.

    This is a series of images of past works: