This week was all about exploring the lazy (or got no time for this) side of pixel art. Through photoshop, and messing with images' sizes, I created pixelated version of these images (some 35 mm scans & the rest taken with an iPhone). I'm going through these and I notice some mistakes, that I can definitely fix. For the sake of rawness and giving each day it's piece, I'm keeping them here.
Nonetheless, my favorites are 55 & 56.
please note how blurry this photo is. i was too excited.
This week was interesting because I literally didn't leave the house and barely left my room.
Less than 2 mins sketch whilst waiting outside.
"Hi human. Do you like punk rock? We're all about the punk rock life. No water, only tears"
Broken 35 mm photograph of Khalid (brilliant human), for his birthday.
Gazing with disguised horror
The Demon King
Sudden sharp pain
Unable to move
I saw this in Reem's facebook, and ended up dreaming about it. Tried to recreate it. Need someone to teach me about shadows, highlights and how light does that thing where it gives photos life?
I decided to draw part of my room in less than 8 mins. It didn't have to be perfect (obviously), but it was more of a practice for when I want to draw quick sketches outside the house. The perspective is 100% inaccurate.
Inspired by my habibi's tweet of a cute date idea.
These photographs were taken on my first film camera, Donna Noble (Canon AE -1). Right when I started getting into film photography. So, here's why I take pictures. What I'm currently feeling can't be generated by anything, at least, nothing like the photos I take & stuff I watercolor. They're not perfect, but they represent much more than that particular moment. I can remember exactly what I felt that time, what assignments & labs I had to do, my father being home, my brother slightly shorter (sans facial hair). I remember not understanding how manual cameras worked, taking notes then completely bailing on taking notes and just shooting for the heck of it and hoping they turn out decent.
When people in my life tell me that I've changed, I can't help but thing "GOOD!!", even when I know it's code for 'Why are you doing the things you do, and saying the things you say. We're drifting apart, we don't have anything in common anymore. g2g'.
2015 was rough, unexpected, most of the time, awfully surreal. I was stuck in an academic limbo because I couldn't find an internship (I'm so used to rejections at this point) and my parents were in the process of separating (forreal real this time). Shit wasn't ok, so I focused on other things. I took up new hobbies, learning new skills, created more, focused on bettering the e-mag I started, I made a personal website, and made sure I took care of myself.
2015 ended, and my father went back to Yemen, I signed my university's clearance (basically found an internship and aced it), my e-mag has a team and we're publishing soon, I lost friends and made new ones.
I see these pictures and I FEEL how much I've grown as an individual and I don't think there are many things in my life that can make me feel so much all at once. I'm ok with people leaving, I'm ok with leaving (if I start feeling that it's not for me), I'm ok with doing things that terrify me (and that includes meeting new people), I'm ok with speaking openly about things I care about, I'm ok with calling out bullshit. I'm ok with my solitude, I'm ok with having to take care of myself by myself.
So yeah, yay for cameras, growth & 2015 for being insane. I'm so happy to be alive, right now, to feel the way I do.
Shout out to humans I've met in 2015, humans who stuck around for all this time, and ghosts. Thank you. Truly.
It has been an intense day of listening to Daniel Johnston & watercoloring.
This video was a real treat.
FloriDada is from Animal Collective's Painting With out February 19, 2016. Lyrics below.
The past couple of weeks, I participated in a festival that took away all my time & energy. The good thing about the festival, wasn't only the fact that I got to teach humans some cool art things, but also getting to learn so much about human behaviour in general. Below are snippets of things I wrote on my break or when I got to work early:
Last week, I took my film cameras everywhere and took photos of everything. Sadly, 2 rolls didn't develop (B&W) so it messed up my weekly count. That being said, I'm including photos taken last week and they will be my week 4 entry.
DAYS 22 - 30
DIRECTED BY: CHAN-WOOK PARK
A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls
I found a book I owned for 10 years, and I'm just glad I kept it this long. I remember buying this from Jarir Bookstore (back when they had good books), and it was during Eid. Every Eid, some time was dedicated for me to buy books from Jarir with the dirhams I managed to collect.
This week started with simple blackout poetry and escalated to something I didn't see coming. Here's a series of trippy af flash fiction. I think this is a great way to express myself in words, since I tried writing poetry/short stories and it just couldn't work out. I also think it's a nice thought, that many poems can be produced by several people if they were given the same page to blackout.
being a spoof
when something uncanny comes along
one of those genuine cases
deep at one end
shallow at the other
everything's quite informal.
personally dangerous sometimes
an enormous shark
had bitten off the end
his powerful jaws
vanished
stolen by another shark
never shall i forget,
this fearful monster
keeping his promise
underneath his handkerchief
i see an old scar
"be quiet, and i'll tell you" he said.
"we exchanged drops of blood,
we made a sacred pledge.
whoever died first, confiscated the knives"
promise the visitor what he want
destiny beheld her with eyes wide open, like a child's
all at once
a strangled cry
THE HOST
possible accidents
fallen into a hollow
a false step cost him
agony of mind
shouting in the silence of the night
he made his preperations
inspected throughly
then he waited.
the steady ticking of the clock
sounded like the beating of a heart
he shivered.
feeling chilled and nervous
suddenly,
the vague light seemed to arise
and diffuse itself in space.
like a hunter, searching for tracks
saying, "seek, old man, seek"
the secret shared was afraid of poop.
do you think i should have the men do anything?
i suppose the end of the world will be something like that.
i don't blame anybody,
only sincere unworthy existence
a heavy knock
upon my thoughts and upon my feelings
i cried through the door
accompanied by a faint smile of regret
i was not wholly alone
I don't remember the last time I've been on our roof, but I managed to find really odd things & survivors.
Some of the beautiful vintage postcards, the lovely Reem Falaknaz got me. One of the most precious humans I got to know via the www.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a new addition to the family. For 24 years, I've been terrified of cats (it's something about the way they bend), but with Brince it was different. Here he is chilling in my room. Never thought anything like this could happen, but yay for change & cute furballs.
I would have never done anything like this, and by this, I mean submit my work to cool zines/mags but everything changed in 2015. I mustered some confidence (even though I'd always immediately regret it) to submit my work. Even though I was rejected by several other e-mags, this only made me want to create more stuff and experiment with more techniques. Bless these cool humans for making great things, and featuring my lil things next to wonderful & talented humans (cc. especially @fax_only 🌺).
Several image macros & micros by NOT LIT HOUSE
err0r: T00 FIERCE - in OOMK & QAHWA PROJECT
I've recently graduated and the one thing I'm excited about the most is working on finishing these mad cool set of zines we're planning on printing for Jaffat El Aqlam. It used to be difficult to work on them, because my laptop was tiny and having way too many things open at once was slowing it down, not to mention it had no space to hold these high res photos.
A thank you to my mother for purchasing the iMac from a stranger in dubizzle because 'it was an ok price'. We had our doubts, but the stranger came through!
teasers: ibrahim's zine & mine.
god bless large screens
This puppy made me cry.
Week 2 was dedicated to marbling and experimenting with all the different ways it can be accomplished. There were a lot of failed attempts, pieces I wasn't happy with and nice accidents, I included everything because why not.
These were tests I made last year, when I had an exam I didn't want to study for. They also happen to be my introduction to marbling. My sister was nice enough to let me borrow her nail polish, and even though I bought some cheap ones for this, it didn't work. I guess its a hit-and-miss with the nail polish technique.
These two were created using a kit I bought. The ink is very vibrant, and the colors are very nice. This week was all about experimenting with different methods, and on different canvases/paper.
On canvas // Used the korean marbling kit, I bought from etsy. These were great, but they took ages to dry. The colors are incredible though, and they can be used on water.
On post-it
On watercolor paper
On a brown envelope
On newsprint
On a brown envelope
On watercolor paper
I see these working in future collages, envelope art, and as bookmarks. Will have to explore marbling using other techniques. However, If there's one thing I learned this week, it would be my lack of imagination when it comes to generating different colors or imaging which colors go well with each other. Will have to study colors, I suppose.
