art space Anna Thackray is a British artist living in Bahrain. One look at her work and you know she rides the dark side like a boss. Bahrain Confidential finds out the latest scoop on Shamal, her comic book trilogy, and what inspires her to use local themes in a time when most artists go with internationally popular ones.
Tell us a little about Shamal. I have created 3 books in the Shamal Trilogy and the latest book is the edited improved version of the story combined into one book • The Awakening of Shamal. No time to waste! Chapter 1 • The Feuding Shamal. War is Peace! Chapter 2 • The Conquering Shamal. The Endless beginning! Chapter 3 • The Chronicles of Shamal What inspires you to use local themes in your stories? I complete 8 years in Middle East and Bahrain, next month. I love stories and especially listening to Bahraini’s share their stories with me. It was impossible not to be inspired by the tales and hence the creation of my comicbook. What challenges did you face in the process of creating Shamal? I studied Fine Art, not Comic/Animation Art, so the toil that brought Shamal Comic
books reflects the frustration and happiness experienced when I paint or sculpt. I did this on my own, for 39 months sometimes working 12 hours a day. I did this because it is art! What more functional and perfect medium is there but the power of telling a story with pictures… isn’t that what a painting or sculpture sets out to achieve anyway? How is your comic book different from most others? This comic book is unconventional; I purposely tried not to follow the current trends in comic book design. I wanted it to be unique and created in isolation. Therefore most of the reference images are of my close family or me. For instance all the hands in the book are my own. Further, my husband’s mum inspires a major good character in the book.
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