Bidoon Sukkar بدون سكر

2012-01-02T23:04:00.000+02:00

I wish you (and me) many many good things to look forward to in 2012; new beginnings, new brain pathways, new skills, new things to learn and new ideas to discuss, unexpected collaborations, intriguing films, gripping books, new recipes, new friends and old friends and happy, memorable moments with people you love! 

غراد سكول

2011-12-22T07:24:00.001+02:00

Since I'm on a roll today, here is a little update on the crazy past 4 months of my life (and the reason why I've been away!) I have moved all the way to Massachusetts and I have miraculously gone through the first semester of grad school! Whew! 

Joe Morelli | Caroline Valites

I have a long to-do list for my winter break; including long long and dense readings, lots and lots of studio work, a fun and exciting new children's book, bidoonsukkar redesign and a lot more! I'm excited, happy and full of energy for this break! I won't let it slip away!

Little Thinking Minds

2011-12-22T05:35:00.002+02:00

There is nothing more rewarding than working with great, thoughtful, smart, creative and understanding clients! Little Thinking Minds and the awesome people behind it are some of my favourite people to work with ever!

Little Thinking Minds is an educational multimedia company that aims to stimulate and enhance little people's minds through various Arabic educational materials such as DVDs, audio CD’s, books...etc

Take a look at their brilliant products here.

TREESHIRT

2011-12-22T01:54:00.001+02:00

Treeshirt is for everyone with an eye for cool designs and a passion for making this world a better place to live in! A growing selection of original designs created by a group of talented Lebanese artists, Treeshirts are a lot more than awesome T-shirts.

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.

Buy my TreeShirt here now now now :) 

Dababees | دبابيس

2011-12-22T00:20:00.000+02:00

I love working with creative people! It makes work so much more fun!
I was so happy to make this logo for Dababees; a small and new Jordanian buisness that specializes in making adorable hand-made veil pins for Moslim women who wear hijabs.

2011-08-26T19:08:00.001+03:00

In memory of my father's birthday - Aug 26, 2011

2009

Puppet in the Making

2011-05-17T17:08:00.001+03:00

At Puppets for animation workshop: Beirut Animated 2 Festival. Watch the film and read more about the workshop here.

Photos courtesy of Salam Al Hasan and Mohamed Fathy

Puppet-Making for Animation

2011-05-17T16:57:00.001+03:00

Puppet-making for Animation Workshop 

Making-Of Puppet Workshop 

I had the privilege of meeting and working with 10 of the most talented Arab artists, illustrators and animators, at the 'Puppet-making for Animation' workshop within the framework ofBeirut Animated 2 Festival, organized by the Metropolis Association and Samandal Magazine.

The workshop lasted for 7 days, we started off at La Palma studio (lovely space by the way) by making -or more accurately constructing- our puppets from the inside out. Starting with an idea, to rough sketches, to technical drawings then building the entire armature (for animation), upon which we built the bodies and heads. Materials used were Aluminum wires, wood, clay, some ‪Papier-m‬a‪ché‬, paint, and hmm hair.. yes hair!

We then went on by discussing the storyline of our film and after very long sessions of brainstorming, we came up with a short and humorous story around the characters each one of us had created. Storyboards were drawn.. we were ready to create our set! 

We moved to KURIO Studio to work on our set and start shooting. working on the set design was a lot of fun!! KURIO pros helped us with the wood work and constructed the puppet stage, we then painted and stylized it. 
 
Lighting and shooting was next, and after many sleepless nights of animating, lighting, shooting and editing (and because we were severely running out of time), we had to sacrifice a big chunk of our story and ended up animating a few scenes. It all turned out great though! And and we have secret plans to continue shooting and finishing our film soon. 

Best part was that non of us really cared how many hours or rather minutes of sleep we got while we were working. The amounts of positivity and energy were incredible! Whenever someone's eyelids started closing involuntarily, they would pick any empty spot to snooze for a few minutes.

Thanks to Metropilis Cinema and Samandal Magazine and everyone who worked on making this workshop happen.

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 Fathy

Digital Illustration Workshop

2011-04-27T23:33:00.001+03:00

I'm very excited to announce my upcoming Digital Illustration Workshop which I will be giving at The Studio this coming month.  

If you're in Amman, head to the event page, read ALL THE DETAILS :) and contact Sarah if you're interested in participating.

Would love to see you there! 

My Letters are Dancing! حروفي ترقص

2011-04-13T00:41:00.002+03:00

Cover: Huroufi Tarqus

Ok, so this is by far one of my most favorite picture books I've illustrated. Written by Sahar Nja Mahfouz, Huroofi Tarqus (My Letters are Dancing!) is an  especially amusing and fun story about  getting eyeglasses and being  brave and confident. Can't wait to get my printed copies! 

Will be published by Kalimat this year! (You gotta check out the large collection of beautifully-illustrated Arabic children's books they've published.)

.

This month I've Been

2011-04-04T23:59:00.001+03:00

Screen printing at The Studio
1. Illustrating a wonderful new children's book (sneak peek VERY SOON.)

2. Working with Little Thinking Minds (Educational multimedia company producing DVDs, CDs, books and other products for toddlers focusing on Arabic language and culture.) Very glad to have had the chance to work with them!

Screen printing at The Studio (Print making studio and gallery in Amman, beautiful space and lovely people.) After being so immersed in the digital world, it feels so good to have paint under my nails again.

last but not least been busy with grad school admissions, jumping through all sorts of hoops to get student loans and funding. Anyone willing to cosign my huge loan, please? :p

Palestine فلسطين

2011-02-27T21:00:00.007+02:00

Inspired by Sacco's Palestine, a group of artists, writers, poets and illustrators were called by Mike to gather at The Studio and create a collective -Arabic in nationality and bilingual in nature-  graphic novel about Palestine. 

The image is part of my "miniature" contribution. :)

.

♥

2011-02-16T21:48:00.005+02:00

I love receiving packages in the mail! There is so much pleasurable anticipation from the moment I pick a package up until I get home and tear up the packaging (if I was patient enough not to open it in the car.) I just received my very beautifully packaged 12 heart-shaped chocolates in the mail from Jake.

Extremely irresistible Milk Chocolate Supreme with hazelnut praline, Black Mystique Vanilla Bourbon caramel, White Toquade filled with chocolate gnache and Red Amore ganache scented with bergamot. And I seriously love the personalized packaging!

I love you

New Book Illustration

2011-01-04T21:37:00.005+02:00

Last month I collaborated with my friend and fellow artist Abz Hakim on illustrating (في بيتنا آلة جديدة) an awesome Arabic children's book written by Fatima Charafeddine and to be published this year by Kalimat Publishing.

working on this book with abz was a lot of fun! Not only did we have to synchronize our biological hours (Amman-Toronto) We also had to work through the challenge of merging our very different styles, which, in my opinion, turned out to look great.

(Thanks to Skype share screen feature, built-in Macbook Pro's web cam and Yousendit for making our lives much easier!) 

Here are just a few pages of the book :)

-Nour 

My Christmas at Café des Artistes :)

2010-12-19T18:15:00.003+02:00

If you're in Amman, Go take a look at my recycled and hand-made Christmas ornaments / Cards / Gift tags at Café des Artistes :)

The pair are for sale at 4JD!

Thank you Nahla Tabbaa for inviting me to do this and for the photos check out Nahla's super artwork here :)  

My Recycled and Handmade Christmas

2010-12-10T16:18:00.007+02:00

I ordered many many grad school catalogs these past few months. Art school catalogs are so freaking pretty you want to add them to your library collection. But only because I don't have enough space for all of them, some of them had to go :( So, I decided to reuse and recycle them into Christmas cards. The illustration I did was scanned and printed on 80gm recycled paper (which I bought from Wild Jordan a few years ago) and was then "reinforced" by the catalogs paper (at least 250gm). 

I'm sending these out to family and friends. If you would like a couple, email me your mailing address (offer valid while supplies last)

Hang them on your Christmas tree!!! 

Merry Christmas

UPDATE: If you're in Amman, My cards are now being sold at Café des Artistes JD4/pair. Go get your last minute Christmas card and gift tag!!

لغة المدينة City Language

2010-12-01T01:38:00.008+02:00

I was invited by Philadelphia skateboards to participate in City language" Urban Art Exhibition" at Foresight Art Gallery. Running until December 1st (link to facebook event). 

Here's what I made :)

Several awesome artists like Nidal Khairy, Tarik El-khatib, Noor Sawalha, Rami Afifi, Nahla Tabbaa, Mike Derderian, Tamer Al-Masri, Lutfi Zayed and many more participated.

UPDATE: Exhibition extended another week December 8th. If you haven't seen it yet go now!! :)  

صندوق الفرجة : The Box of Wonders.

2010-11-11T22:56:00.006+02:00

I made these ink illustrations for another project I worked on for the Children's Museum Jordan.

A few selected frames

The  Box of Wonders (صندوق الفرجة) is one of the oldest Eid El Fiter  "celebrational" activities, where frames of Arab traditional stories are  illustrated on a roll of cloth or paper and are mounted on two rotating  cylinders inside a rectangular closed box. The box has 3 or 4 small  openings where children gather to watch the story frames roll while a  storyteller tells the story and rolls the images into the holes. (did  that sound too complicated? well, it's really just a box, 2 cylinders  and a roll of paper with pictures) What I did was just the "pictures"  part, so I illustrated the story. The box was then mounted and painted  (with very bright red an green paint) and guess what the kids loved it!!  look! :)

This How I spent My Friday...

2010-08-07T22:56:00.000+03:00

Work in Progess
Wall @ Samar Al Alami apartment
More photos (next Friday?)

Book Cover Illustration: Where the Streets Had a Name

2010-06-18T15:59:00.012+03:00

This is an illustration that I made for Where the Streets Had a Name; a translation into Arabic of a wonderful adventure, set in the West Bank, full of sparkling dialogue, humor and great depth of character. It is written in the point of view of 13-year old "Hayaat" by the Australian-Palestinian writer Randa Abdel Fattah and published by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation.

Where the Streets Had a Name is about identity and the memory of a people in a very personal way. I tried to reflect that in my illustration by visually creating the identity of Hayaat; whose face was badly scarred due to an explosion.

Hayaat is laying in her bed, she often wakes up in the middle of the night because of her nightmares. The look in he eyes depicts a decisive mission. The right half of her face is partially cropped but we can still see a bit of her scar.

Ink

2010-06-16T14:24:00.004+03:00

A few of my ink drawings that I did during my trip to Portland, either on the bus, at home or in Bard Coffee while Jake worked.

Bubble Trouble

2010-04-07T23:12:00.003+03:00

This was a small illustration project I worked on last month. Brilliant book by Carla Mitri and Beautiful layout by Ashley Choukeir .
Illustration by myself of course ;)

Nostalgic Fusion

2010-03-18T16:25:00.002+02:00

Inka will be visiting this Sunday, coming all the way from Finland through Berlin and Israel to Jordan (yes she's a world traveler as Flickr is her witness).  I met Inka less than two years ago in Rhode Island School of Design as part of RISD Fusion Arts Exchange Program Fax, where I also met 19 other talented artists from Argentina, Finland, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea and the US, and that's where I met Jake too :). Fax was a program funded by the ECA, the part in which I participated focused on Digital Media + Computer Assisted Design. Amazing program, some of the best teachers and wonderful people, needless to say it has changed my life. Ok ok I'll stop the blather, I'm just having such a nostalgic day.

I wish the ECA would fund a reunion!

These are pictures taken from RISD Fax Flickr (most probably taken by Brian Derosia.)

Nursery Mural

2010-02-19T16:04:00.005+02:00

My sister is expecting a baby boy in a few weeks :) So excited!!! Here's what I've been doing at her son's nursery.

Took less than 3 hours! especially that it's one color.

Advice: Always have a tiny sketch on paper before you start a mural; it makes it much easier to visualize the composition on a larger scale. This might have been a simple design, but not having it on paper was more difficult than I expected.

I used:

All In One Box 2

2010-01-29T12:35:00.015+02:00

Here are some of my drawings and mixed media collages at the All in One Box exhibition.

I create silence
بسكُت

I'm not grossed out of hair in my plate
ما بقرف إذا لقيت شعرة

Wherever I go I carry with me many things

وين ما بروح بحمل معي غراض كتير

I hide behind my hair
بتخبى ورى شعري

below is a collaboration with David Habchy for his piece 'Abeer wal Khinzeer' : an adaptation of the character he created that I drew on his "balding head" :p and an experimental video of Abeer moving.

All in One Box : Illustration Workshop and Exhibition

2010-01-28T20:50:00.006+02:00

Amazing week, spent with 22 illustrators from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Jordan to create an illustration research room. Organized by Lena Merhej and Helle Vibeke Jenson.
See more photos of the six-day collaboration here.

The exhibition will be going on: 25-30 of January 2010
at The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space in Karantina - Beirut.
The box will travel to other venues until June 2010, go here for a detailed schedule.

Will be posting more picture of my work soon.

Awesome People

2010-01-28T20:38:00.001+02:00

Not only some of the best artists, architects and designers, but also the warmest and most welcoming people I've ever met. Thank you William, Hanane, Ashley and David! 

Lots of Gifts

2009-12-30T09:55:00.005+02:00

What can be better than a bunch of great people, LOTSSS OF yummy Sushi and lovely lovely gifts! I think I'm gonna like this year!

Thank you Lama, Omar, Zeina D, Bana and Zeina B. for making mybirthday extra special with all your loving :D

Speaking of Christmas...

2009-12-24T13:30:00.003+02:00

So again.. this has been such a busy winter for me, I haven't sent out any Christmas cards, haven't bought any Stocking stuffers, and I haven't even had the time to help decorate the family's Christmas tree or bake mom's yummy cookies :(
In the picture (left to right) : Mom's Famous Ginger and raisins cookies, coconut and dried fruit balls, butter and almonds cookies. Just the right amount of sukkar for bidoon sukkar!!!

P.S: Thanks for all the beautiful Christmas and birthday cards :)

Pictures of My Wall at The Sunny Art Fair

2009-12-12T15:26:00.003+02:00

These are some images of my tiny little wall at the Sunny Art Fair, going on until December 15th 09 at Zara Expo - Amman.

Another visualization(s) of " شو بصير لما نموت؟ - What happens when we die?"

Online Shop Icons : JRF

2009-11-24T10:38:00.006+02:00

I made these icons for the online shop at the Jordan River Foundation website.  

Untitled

2009-10-29T13:52:00.003+02:00

These are only a few panels of my something I started making (but never finished) for Revenge -Samandal's new edition. 

شو بصير لما نموت؟ : What happens when we die?

2009-09-29T14:00:00.005+03:00

كان يا ما كان

2009-09-19T12:38:00.001+03:00

This the Eid el Fiter Ad that I made for The Children's Museum Jordan

Eh-Lo?

2009-09-16T14:39:00.002+03:00

illustration for Mr. Jake

At the tone, please record your message. When you are finished recording, you may hang up or press pound for more options. 

Tooooooooooot

P.S: Long distance sucks :( 

كل سنة و إنت... بدفتري

2009-08-27T14:04:00.001+03:00

Today is my father's birthday, I made a list of some of the things that are still left here.. that remind me of him.

بحبك بابا .. كل سنه او إنت بدفتري   

One-Liner

2009-08-25T11:19:00.002+03:00

About 2 months ago I sent these little doodles for a competition at Social Designer under the theme: One-liner. I was thrilled to find out that I was one of the Finalists on Doodlers Anonymous by OKAT.

Underwater an illustration inspired by my sister's hair and hair-clip.

Where Am I? I'm a loose line, a bunch of scattered dots..

Sister's Wedding Cards

2009-06-09T13:01:00.002+03:00

My sister's wedding is coming up!!! I designed her wedding cards (of course!) and I'm so happy the printing turned out great, I was worried that white on white (colorless  spot-UV) would kill all the details in the illustration I made. I don't know if you can see much in these images (maybe the last one?) But they do look great in real life :D

Easter Markers

2009-04-18T16:38:00.001+03:00

Friday Morning

2009-03-09T12:30:00.001+02:00

This is an ink illustration, rendered and colored digitally.

More Christmas :)

2009-01-11T01:23:00.002+02:00

This Year's Christmas post card from bidoonsukkar

MANUAL ANIMAL

2009-01-11T01:10:00.003+02:00

Some images of my wall at the Manual Animal exhibition (LINK) - Makan House, Amman -December 28th - January 8th

Dirt

2008-12-07T21:41:00.003+02:00

Acrylics and ink on the back of a canvas.

"None of the apparent transformations that have occurred in the apparent  lifetime of this manifestation is karmic. Those transformations are  divine. Those transformations were not necessary for any karmic reason.  Rather, those transformations occurred as a form of divine "Play" — to  be instructive, and to provide, for all, a vehicle for realization." 

Backyard Wall Painted!

2008-09-19T11:40:00.007+03:00

I love love love painting on walls. I did this on the walls in my backyard on a weekend. so much fun! Thanks to Zeina for her tremendous help!

كل سنه و أنت سالم

2008-09-18T19:59:00.002+03:00