Exhibition: Arab Children’s Comics!

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

Since the first Facebook-comment on the last post was in English, I’ll switch back once more to being international. Bear with me oh ye Swedish readers.

The exhibitions at Malmö Stadsbiblioteket opened officially on Sunday. A recorder quintet from Malmö Kulturskola played for us and started appropriately with:

blockflöjtskvintett bamse

There were opening speeches by project leader Caroline Lund and chairman of Seriefrämjandet (main organizer of the festival) Fredrik Strömberg. The recorder quintet played baroque music while the guests mingled and stuffed their faces with snacks and cider. It was nice!

I introduced the exhibitions to the great crowds of interested people (three of my closest friends and my girlfriend). I gave a special introduction to the Arab children’s comics of course. Here’s the exhibited material in low-res:

The Little Arab, by Qindil and Fawaz, © Al-Arabi As-Saghir (Kuwait)

The Adventures of Antara, Zarqaa and Ashab, by al-Hijar, © Fikra (Jordan)

Dracula Wants to Die, by Qurah Bayt, © Al-Arabi As-Saghir (Kuwait)

(Only in the Rosengård exhibition)

Juha the Funny Laugh maker, by al-Bari and Husni, © Dar al-Jayl (Libanon)

Kahf & Mughara, by Saad and Tawfiq, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Kaslan Jiddan, by Umar and Rahma, © Majid (United Arab Emirates)

Kaslan Jiddan is a classic character in Arab comics!

The Airplane Expedition, by Umar and Hijazi, © Majid (United Arab Emirates)

(Only in the Rosengård exhibition)

Reem & Reema, by Majaysh and Abod, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Shamsa & Dana, by Shafiq and Skahir, © Majid (United Arab Emirates)

One of my personal favorites from Majid magazine. Both style and contents are strange and unique. Another Arab classic!

The Dream Circus, by Farah and Kamil, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Imagine if We Lived on the Moon, by Abd al-Aziz, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Tanabilat al-Sibyan, by Ahmad Hijazi, © Ala’ ad-Din (Egypt)

Ahmad Hijazi is one of the most interesting creator of Arab comics. This spread is far from his greatest, but it was the only one I could find. His comics are clever, political and satiricial. A bit like the Simpsons, but Arab.

Toota, by Fathi and Salih, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

I’d like to point out that I didn’t ask the writers and artists for permission to exhibit these pieces of work. I sincerely hope you don’t mind, dear colleagues! That would have been impossible, given the tight time schedule and the fact that I’m doing this 100% voluntary on a zero budget. I’ve been very careful with writing your names and where the comics were published. I just wanted to present to the Swedes a small sample of the comics being produced in the Arab world. Inshallah the libraries will import more Arab comics after this. At the moment Basim is the only magazine available in Malmö.

Shukran jazilan to Muhammad Shennawy and Hischam Rahma for sending me some of the pages!

Al-mukhlis

Shoqi Andreas Qassim

I Seriernas Värld: Stora hängdagen

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

Seriefestivalen står och stampar på tröskeln, vilket har börjat synas på olika håll i Malmö. Här en härligt orange banner på Södra Förstadsgatan, med illustrationer av Seriestudions Johanna Kristansson.

Igår var det dags att hänga en herrans massa I Seriernas Värld-utställningar. Dagen började med en snabbvisit på Malmö Muséer, Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus. Där brottades Jamil Mani och Caroline Lund med den ganska komplicerade Seriemaskerad-utställningen.

Jag och Mia inspekterade lokalen inför våra workshops nästa vecka. Ungdomar mellan 11-14 får under ett par timmar chans att skapa sina egna masker, vilka får dela utrymme med de professionella tecknarnas masker. Vernissage för hela utställningen är på fredag 30 Okt kl 14-16.

Jamil beundrar Lars Krantz asgrymma seriemask.

Nästa stopp var Stadsbiblioteket. Här TEJPADE jag upp utställningen om arabiska barnserier. PÅ TYGSKÄRMAR. Ingen av mina bättre idéer skulle det visa sig. Jag drog vidare till Rosengårdsbiblioteket. Även här tejpade jag upp utställningen, direkt på väggen den här gången. Tejpen är ganska stark, så väggen kommer förmodligen behöva målas om när utställningen tas ner..

Och så här mysig blev den lilla seriehörnan till slut.

Fem i fyra var jag klar (biblioteket stängde fyra), ryggen kändes som betong och jag for hem till Lund. Idag kom jag tillbaks till Stadsbiblioteket för att upptäcka att mina tejpade laminerade seriesidor börjat lossna. Min lösning på problemet var att.. TEJPA ÄNNU MER!

Hade feltolkat tiden för pressvisning med två timmar, så jag fick tid att springa iväg till Zoupa Doupa, ta en tomatsoppa och kolla in Seriestudions lilla serievägg, fördelaktigt hängd av Johanna Kristiansson, Samuel Larsson och min Bamse-kollega Adam Blomgren. Så här fin blev den:

Jag skyndade tillbaks till Stadsbiblioteket. De arabiska serierna hade börjat lossa igen från tyget, men Ha! jag hade en backup-plan i form av en ask med vanliga hederliga synålar. Några minuter före intervjun med journalisten från Kommunalarbetaren sprang jag således runt och tryckte i synålar genom lamineringsplasten med en enkrona. SÅ ARBETAR ETT PROFFS!

Utställningen börjar i gången in till Barn & Ungdomsavdelningen…

… och fortsätter in i den samma.

På söndag kl 13-15 är det vernissage för samtliga utställningar på Stadsbiblioteket. Förutom min om arabiska barnserier hittar man även Fucking Vittula i Kaféet, Masken Alianna i Barnavdelningen, Svenska Manga-tecknare på tredje våningen, samt den stora utställningen om serier från hela världen på gigantiska vepor inne på serievdelningen. För mer info om seriefestivalens utställningar klicka här. Vi ses på söndag!

Ps. Märkte ni att blogginlägget var på svenska?

I Seriernas Värld: Seriemaskerad

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

I’ve been busy lately with several projects for the upcoming Malmö Comics Festival I Seriernas Värld. One of these is the mask exhibition at Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus (26 Oct-22 Nov), where a group of professional comic artists will exhibit their masks. I handed mine in today (at least one hour prior to deadline!).

It’s supposed to be a somewhat distorted mask of Buster Keaton. My thoughts behind this is that I always wished I was a better storyteller. To be so you need to be able to keep your cool, to have a poker face. Especially when you want to tell a funny story. Buster Keaton was a very funny man, in spite of being known as “the stone face”, or maybe because of it, I’m not sure. So instead of loosing out to four year olds in “the angry game”, like I do, I wish I was as cool and funny as Buster Keaton…

And these were the sketches leading up to the finished piece:

Young Buster of the 20s or so. Wasn’t he somewhat reminiscent of The Spirit?

Old Buster, as he appeared in the 60s.

Good ol’ Buster after having been squeezed through my twisted mind.

The finished piece is enormous, like A1. I loved working in this large format again. Long time ago. Notice how it completely fills up my drawing table, to the extent that I had to turn it 90 degrees. After two days work, my back is but a shadow of its former self…

And now for the very best part of this project: If you happen to be 11-14 years of age, you can participate in a mask workshop 26-30 Oct (at Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus) that will be headed by me and Mia Widén, a great artist, graphic designer and creator of comics. By pure coincidence she happens to be from the same little village as me (Sandsbro, 5 km outside Växjö). Participants get two hours to create their own mask that will be part of the exhibition!

The finished exhibition with all the masks (there will be at least a hundred of them) opens Fri 30 Oct. It’s going to be cool. Don’t miss it!

In the stores right now: Bamse #12/09

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

The 10 page “Kick-Nicke” is my 4th original Rune A-script. A sequel is in the pipeline. There’s something special about Rune A storytelling. It flows like a river. It’s like he had so many stories in him he could hardly contain himself. Kick-Nicke is another example of great character design, I think. You can tell there’s personality and history to him. The design matches the story. Read Bamse #12, and you’ll see what I mean!

Rune’s character design.

Analyzing the character design on the backside of the paper.

Page from Rune’s script.

My interpretation of Rune’s script.

Kerstin Hamberg’s ink original.

BAMSE #10/11

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

The lead story of the latest issue of Bamse, “Sommar, Sol och Badköping”, is the second original Rune Andréasson script I illustrated. It’s probably THE Bamse comic I’m most pleased with (i.e. of those I’ve done the artwork for). I liked the script. I was inspired when I drew it. There’s more action in those 20 pages than there usually is in a whole Bamse magazine. Stylistically it’s more Rune-ish than any other of my Bamse works. Maybe because Rune designed so many of its characters. Rune was a great character designer. The only thing I’m not so pleased with in my drawings is the scales of the bear-mermaid. They look spikey and not very fishy. Don’t know what I was thinking. Never mind, the rest I have no problem with. Beautiful ink work by Kerstin Hamberg!

badkoping_figurdesign1 blog